Selective activation of network management policies of mobile devices in a mobile network

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods described herein employ techniques for generation and selective activation (or triggering) of network management policies in a congested network to, for example, prevent further aggravation of network congestion are disclosed. In order to address mobile network congestion it is necessary to be able to enforce network management policies on the devices which are in the a specific congested cell. This presents a challenge as the mobile devices cannot themselves determine if the cell they are currently located in is congested. Additionally, most network operators do not have mechanisms to determine which cells are congested in real-time. Thus, network operators (e.g., cellular providers) can create policies with congestion triggers that are not bound to specific cells to address congestion. The polices can be distributed to clients in the mobile network and selectively activated in congested cell locations (or areas) by the mobile clients.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS AND EFFECTIVE FILING DATEENTITLEMENT

This application is entitled to the benefit of and/or the right ofpriority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/835,783, entitled“SELECTIVE ACTIVATION OF NETWORK MANAGEMENT POLICIES OF MOBILE DEVICESIN A MOBILE NETWORK,” (Attorney Docket No. 76443-8177.US00), filed onJun. 17, 2013, and is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.This application is therefore entitled to an effective filing date ofJun. 17, 2013.

This application is related to, and incorporates by reference itsentirety, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/837, 308 entitled“OPTIMIZED AND SELECTIVE MANAGEMENT OF POLICY DEPLOYMENT TO MOBILECLIENTS IN A CONGESTED NETWORK TO PREVENT FURTHER AGGRAVATION OF NETWORKCONGESTION,” (Attorney Docket No. 76443-8153.US01) which was filed onMar. 15, 2013, which claims the benefit of and/or the right of priorityto U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/718,074, entitled “OPTIMIZED ANDSELECTIVE MANAGEMENT OF POLICY DEPLOYMENT TO MOBILE CLIENTS IN ACONGESTED NETWORK TO PREVENT FURTHER AGGRAVATION OF NETWORK CONGESTION,”(Attorney Docket No. 76443-8153.US00), filed on Oct. 24, 2012, and ishereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

In order to address mobile network congestion, it is ideal to be able toenforce network management policies on the devices that are in specificcongested areas. However, this presents a challenge as the mobiledevices cannot themselves determine if the cell they are currentlylocated in (or “camping in”) is congested. In addition, most networkoperators typically do not have mechanisms to determine which cells (orcell locations) are congested in real-time. Rather, the networkoperators determine the congested cells based on historical values ormetrics that are collected and/or otherwise monitored by the mobilenetwork operators via one or more nodes. However, even if it werepossible for the network operators to determine the congested cells inreal-time, transmitting new network management polices (or networkmanagement policy triggers) to mobile clients in congested cells inreal-time would exacerbate the network congestion.

Therefore, the problems of exacerbating an already congested mobilenetwork pose significant challenges for mobile network operators.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A depicts an example diagram illustrating a distributed proxysystem that can facilitate selective activation of a network managementpolicy by a mobile client in a congested network to, for example,prevent further aggravation of network congestion.

FIG. 1B depicts an example diagram illustrating the hierarchicalarchitecture of a mobile network including multiple cell towers forservicing various mobile clients.

FIG. 1C depicts an example diagram whereby a distributed proxy systemcan facilitate selective activation of a network management policy by amobile client when the mobile device detects a congested cell.

FIG. 1D illustrates an example diagram of a proxy and cache systemdistributed between the host server and device which facilitates networktraffic management between a device, an application server or contentprovider, or other servers such as an ad server, promotional contentserver, or an e-coupon server for resource conservation and contentcaching.

FIG. 1E illustrates an example diagram of the logical architecture of adistributed proxy and cache system.

FIG. 1F illustrates an example diagram showing the architecture ofclient side components in a distributed proxy and cache system.

FIG. 1G illustrates a diagram of the example components on the serverside of the distributed proxy and cache system.

FIG. 2A illustrates example of client-side components in a distributedproxy and cache system including a location monitoring engine thatfacilitates location monitoring and reporting and a policy managementengine that facilitates management and selective activation/deactivationof network management policies.

FIG. 2B illustrates additional components in the location monitoringengine shown in the example of FIG. 2A.

FIG. 2C illustrates additional components in the and a policy managementengine shown in the example of FIG. 2A.

FIG. 3A illustrates an example of server-side components in adistributed proxy and cache system, further including a network policyoptimizer for facilitating management and deployment of various networkmanagement policies.

FIG. 3B illustrates additional components in the network policyoptimizer shown in the example of FIG. 3A.

FIG. 4A depicts a block diagram illustrating another example ofclient-side components in a distributed proxy and cache system residingon a mobile device (e.g., wireless device) that manages traffic in awireless network (or broadband network) for resource conservation,content caching, and/or traffic management.

FIG. 4B depicts a block diagram illustrating a further example ofcomponents in the cache system shown in the example of FIG. 4A which iscapable of caching and adapting caching strategies for mobileapplication behavior and/or network conditions.

FIG. 4C depicts a block diagram illustrating examples of additionalcomponents in the local cache shown in the example of FIG. 4A which isfurther capable of performing mobile traffic categorization and policyimplementation based on application behavior and/or user activity.

FIG. 5A depicts a block diagram illustrating another example ofserver-side components in a distributed proxy and cache system thatmanages traffic in a wireless network (or broadband network) forresource conservation, content caching, and/or traffic management.

FIG. 5B depicts a block diagram illustrating a further example ofcomponents in the caching policy manager in the cache system shown inthe example of FIG. 5A which is capable of caching and adapting cachingstrategies for mobile application behavior and/or network conditions.

FIG. 5C depicts a block diagram illustrating examples of additionalcomponents in proxy server shown in the example of FIG. 5A which isfurther capable of performing mobile traffic categorization and policyimplementation based on application behavior and/or traffic priority.

FIG. 6A depicts a flow diagram illustrating an example process forreceiving and storing an inactive network management policy by a mobiledevice.

FIG. 6B depicts a flow diagram illustrating an example process foractivating an inactive network management policy by a mobile client in acongested network to, for example, prevent further aggravation ofnetwork congestion.

FIG. 7A depicts a flow diagram illustrating an example process forreceiving and storing a historical listing of past congested cells fromvarious location areas by a proxy server.

FIG. 7B depicts a flow diagram illustrating an example process forprovisioning and distributing location area cell lists to a mobiledevice.

FIG. 8A depicts a sequence diagram illustrating example signalingbetween a distributed proxy system and a network service provider forgenerating and distributing an inactive network management policy.

FIG. 8B depicts a sequence diagram illustrating example signalingbetween a distributed proxy system and a network service provider forgenerating and distributing a historic list of congested cells.

FIG. 8C depicts a sequence diagram illustrating example signalingbetween a distributed proxy system and a network service provider foractivating an inactive network management policy by a mobile client in acongested network to, for example, prevent further aggravation ofnetwork congestion.

FIG. 9 depicts an example interface for generating a network managementpolicy.

FIG. 10 depicts a diagrammatic representation of a machine in theexample form of a computer system within which a set of instructions,for causing the machine to perform any one or more of the methodologiesdiscussed herein, may be executed.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following description and drawings are illustrative and are not tobe construed as limiting. Numerous specific details are described toprovide a thorough understanding of the disclosure. However, in certaininstances, well-known or conventional details are not described in orderto avoid obscuring the description. References to “one embodiment” or“an embodiment” in the present disclosure can be, but not necessarilyare, references to the same embodiment and such references mean at leastone of the embodiments.

Reference in this specification to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment”means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic describedin connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodimentof the disclosure. The appearances of the phrase “in one embodiment” invarious places in the specification are not necessarily all referring tothe same embodiment, nor are separate or alternative embodimentsmutually exclusive of other embodiments. Moreover, various features aredescribed which may be exhibited by some embodiments and not by others.Similarly, various requirements are described which may be requirementsfor some embodiments but not other embodiments.

The terms used in this specification generally have their ordinarymeanings in the art, within the context of the disclosure, and in thespecific context where each term is used. Certain terms that are used todescribe the disclosure are discussed below, or elsewhere in thespecification, to provide additional guidance to the practitionerregarding the description of the disclosure. For convenience, certainterms may be highlighted, for example using italics and/or quotationmarks. The use of highlighting has no influence on the scope and meaningof a term; the scope and meaning of a term is the same, in the samecontext, whether or not it is highlighted. It will be appreciated thatsame thing can be said in more than one way.

Consequently, alternative language and synonyms may be used for any oneor more of the terms discussed herein, nor is any special significanceto be placed upon whether or not a term is elaborated or discussedherein. Synonyms for certain terms are provided. A recital of one ormore synonyms does not exclude the use of other synonyms. The use ofexamples anywhere in this specification, including examples of any termsdiscussed herein, is illustrative only, and is not intended to furtherlimit the scope and meaning of the disclosure or of any exemplifiedterm. Likewise, the disclosure is not limited to various embodimentsgiven in this specification.

Without intent to limit the scope of the disclosure, examples ofinstruments, apparatus, methods and their related results according tothe embodiments of the present disclosure are given below. Note thattitles or subtitles may be used in the examples for convenience of areader, which in no way should limit the scope of the disclosure. Unlessotherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein havethe same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in theart to which this disclosure pertains. In the case of conflict, thepresent document, including definitions, will control.

Embodiments of the present disclosure include systems and methods forselective activation of network management policies by mobile clients ina congested mobile network to, for example, prevent further aggravationof network congestion.

In order to address mobile network congestion it is necessary to be ableto enforce network management policies (note that examples of thesepolicies are described in the sections that follow and the remainder ofthis specification) on the mobile devices (or clients) that are in thespecific congested cells.

However, this presents a challenge as the mobile devices cannotthemselves determine if the cell they are camping in (currently locatedin) is congested. Additionally, most of network operators do not havemechanisms to determine which cells are congested in real-time. Rather,the network operators typically determine which cells are congestedbased on historical values or metrics that are collected and/orotherwise monitored by the network operators. Furthermore, even if itwere possible for the network operators to determine the congested cellsin real-time, the network operators still could not transmit new networkmanagement polices (or network management policy triggers) to theclients in the congested cells in real-time as it would exacerbate thecongestion with the additional signaling required to distribute and/ortrigger congestion-specific policies.

To overcome these and other issues, network service providers (e.g.,cellular providers) can create policies to address congestion and thepolices can be distributed to clients in the mobile network andselectively activated in congested cell locations (or areas) by themobile clients. For example, a network operator can create a networkmanagement policy and indicate that the policy applies if a cell is“considered” congested. In one embodiment, the network managementpolicies that are created by the network operators do not have specificbinding to a particular cell location. Rather, the network managementpolicy can include an activation trigger that indicates that congestionstatus of a cell location needs to be taken into account when decidingwhether and/or when to apply the policy.

In one embodiment, each mobile device includes a proxy client thatcommunicates with a proxy server to facilitate selective activation ofnetwork management policies by the mobile clients in a congested mobilenetwork. Specifically, each mobile device monitors the cell locationthat it is camping in (i.e., located in) and reports the cell locationto the proxy server.

Network service providers can track historical cell congestion such as,for example, when a particular cell is congested and the kind(s) oftraffic that the cause the congestion, and can create a list of the pastcongested cells. The network operators can provide the list of pastcongested cells to a proxy server periodically, when the list isupdated, or in any other similar and/or reasonable manner.

To identify a unique cell, the network provider must provide both a cellidentifier (CI) and a location area code (LAC). This is because of thehierarchical architecture of the mobile network. For example, multiplecells can be combined into a Routing Area (RA) and multiple RAs can becombined into a Location Area (LA). Each location area is represented bya LAC. Accordingly, a cell (represented by a given CI) is guaranteed tobe unique only within a particular location area (represented by a LAC).

Because each mobile device monitors the cell location that it is campingin and reports the cell location to the proxy server, the proxy servercan determine when a mobile device is moving from one location area to anew location area. In one embodiment, when the proxy server determinesthat a mobile device has moved into a new location area, the proxyserver provisions a list of the congested cells related to the newlocation area and sends the list of congested cells to the mobiledevice. The list can include multiple CIs corresponding to the congestedcells. In some instances, the list of congested cells can be even moregranular (e.g., based on RA), and sent to the mobile device morefrequently (e.g., when the mobile device moves into a new RA).

The techniques described herein have many advantages. For example, inmost cases, mobile devices stay within a particular LAC for a reasonableduration of time and thus, frequent updates of the congested cell list(CI list) are not requires. Furthermore, in some embodiments, a mobiledevice and/or a proxy server can keep CI lists associated with two ormore recent location area's to minimize updates when the mobile deviceis moving along a border of multiple location areas and switchingbetween them frequently.

The techniques described herein provide for sending mobile deviceslimited (updated) cell lists containing only relevant cell information.That is, it is not necessary to provision and update a full list ofcongested cells in operator's network to every mobile device. Providingthis full list is unwieldy and overly burdensome on the network causingexcessive network signaling.

Advantageously, the techniques do not require provisioning and updatinga full list of congested cells in operator's network to every mobiledevice. This process can be counterproductive as it is unwieldy andoverly burdensome on the network causing excessive network signaling.

Additionally, the techniques do not require tracking and/or otherwisepredicting a cell location history of a mobile device to predict whichcells to update. Rather, the LAC-based CI list update is eventual andopportunistic in that the policies can be preloaded on a mobile device,but inactive and the congested CI list can be distributed proactivelybefore UE enters any of the congested cells (i.e., assuming that thefirst cell of the location area entered by the mobile device is notcongested). Advantageously, the policy triggering decision (i.e.,activation) is local. The is based on policies provisioned into a UE andobservation of a hand over (moving) to CI that is in the list ofcongested CIs for the current location area.

Example Network Management Policies

By way of example, and not limitation, the network management policiesdescribed herein can include various policies for signaling optimizationin a wireless network for traffic utilizing proprietary andnon-proprietary protocols.

Data Proliferation and Mobile Traffic Management

There are multiple factors that contribute to the proliferation of data:the end-user, mobile devices, wireless devices, mobile applications, andthe network. As mobile devices evolve, so do the various elementsassociated with them-availability, applications, user behavior, locationthus changing the way the network interacts with the device and theapplication.

The disclosed technology provides a comprehensive and end-to-endsolution that is able to address each element for operators and devicesmanufacturers to support both the shift in mobile or wireless devicesand the surge in data by leveraging the premise that mobile content hasa definable or relevant “freshness” value. The “freshness” of mobilecontent can be determined, either with certainty, or with someheuristics having a tolerance within which the user experience isenhanced, or not negatively impacted, or negatively impacted but iseither not perceptible to the user or within a tolerable thresholdlevel.

The disclosed innovation transparently determines such “freshness” bymonitoring, analyzing, and applying rules (which may be heuristicallydetermined) the transactions (requests/responses) between applications(e.g., mobile applications) and the peers (corresponding server or otherclients). Moreover, the technology is further able to effectively cachecontent which may be marked by its originating/host server as being“non-cacheable” and identify some “freshness” value which can then beused in implementing application-specific caching. In general, the“freshness” value has an approximate minimum value which is typicallydetermined using the update interval (e.g., interval with which requestsare sent) between the application and its corresponding server/host.

One embodiment of the disclosed technology includes a system thatoptimizes multiple aspects of the connection with wired and wirelessnetworks and devices through a comprehensive view of device andapplication activity including: loading, current application needs on adevice, controlling the type of access (push vs. pull or hybrid),location, concentration of users in a single area, time of day, howoften the user interacts with the application, content or device, andusing this information to shape traffic to a cooperative client/serveror simultaneously mobile devices without a cooperative client. Becausethe disclosed server is not tied to any specific network provider it hasvisibility into the network performance across all service providers.This enables optimizations to be applied to devices regardless of theoperator or service provider, thereby enhancing the user experience andmanaging network utilization while roaming. Bandwidth has beenconsidered a major issue in wireless networks today. More and moreresearch has been done related to the need for additional bandwidth tosolve access problems. Many of the performance enhancing solutions andnext generation standards, such as those commonly referred to as 3.5G,LTE, 4G, and WiMax, are focused on providing increased bandwidth.Although partially addressed by the standards, a key problem thatremains is lack of bandwidth on the signaling channel more so than thedata channel and the standard does not address battery life very well.

Embodiments of the disclosed technology includes, for example, alignmentof requests from multiple applications to minimize the need for severalpolling requests; leverage specific content types to determine how toproxy/manage a connection/content; and applying specific heuristicsassociated with device, user behavioral patterns (how often theyinteract with the device/application) and/or network parameters.

Embodiments of the present technology can further include, movingrecurring HTTP polls performed by various widgets, RSS readers, etc., toremote network node (e.g., Network Operation Center (NOC)), thusconsiderably lowering device battery/power consumption, radio channelsignaling and bandwidth usage. Additionally, the offloading can beperformed transparently so that existing applications do not need to bechanged.

In some embodiments, this can be implemented using a local proxy on themobile device (e.g., any wireless device) which automatically detectsrecurring requests for the same content (RSS feed, Widget data set) thatmatches a specific rule (e.g., happens every 15 minutes). The localproxy can automatically cache the content on the mobile device whiledelegating the polling to the server (e.g., a proxy server operated asan element of a communications network). The server can then notify themobile/client proxy if the content changes, and if content has notchanged (or not changed sufficiently, or in an identified manner oramount) the mobile proxy provides the latest version in its cache to theuser (without need to utilize the radio at all). This way the mobile orwireless device (e.g., a mobile phone, smart phone, M2M module/MODEM, orany other wireless devices, etc.) does not need to open (e.g., thuspowering on the radio) or use a data connection if the request is forcontent that is monitored and that has been not flagged as new/changed.

The logic for automatically adding content sources/application servers(e.g., including URLs/content) to be monitored can also check forvarious factors like how often the content is the same, how often thesame request is made (is there a fixed interval/pattern?), whichapplication is requesting the data, etc. Similar rules to decide betweenusing the cache and request the data from the original source may alsobe implemented and executed by the local proxy and/or server.

For example, when the request comes at an unscheduled/unexpected time(user initiated check), or after every (n) consecutive times theresponse has been provided from the cache, etc., or if the applicationis running in the background vs. in a more interactive mode of theforeground. As more and more mobile applications or wireless enabledapplications base their features on resources available in the network,this becomes increasingly important. In addition, the disclosedtechnology allows elimination of unnecessary chatter from the network,benefiting the operators trying to optimize the wireless spectrum usage.

Traffic Categorization and Policy

In some embodiments, the disclosed proxy system is able to establishpolicies for choosing traffic (data, content, messages, updates, etc.)to cache and/or shape. Additionally, by combining information fromobserving the application making the network requests, getting explicitinformation from the application, or knowing the network destination theapplication is reaching, the disclosed technology can determine or inferwhat category the transmitted traffic belongs to.

For example, in one embodiment, mobile or wireless traffic can becategorized as: (a1) interactive traffic or (a2) background traffic. Thedifference is that in (a1) a user is actively waiting for a response,while in (2) a user is not expecting a response. This categorization canbe used in conjunction with or in lieu of a second type ofcategorization of traffic: (b1) immediate, (b2) low priority, (b3)immediate if the requesting application is in the foreground and active.

For example, a new update, message or email may be in the (b1) categoryto be delivered immediately, but it still is (a2) background traffic—auser is not actively waiting for it. A similar categorization applies toinstant messages when they come outside of an active chat session.During an active chat session a user is expecting a response faster.Such user expectations are determined or inferred and factored into whenoptimizing network use and device resources in performing trafficcategorization and policy implementation.

Some examples of the applications of the described categorizationscheme, include the following: (a1) interactive traffic can becategorized as (b1) immediate—but (a2) background traffic may also be(b2) or (b3). An example of a low priority transfer is email or messagemaintenance transaction such as deleting email or other messages ormarking email as read at the mail or application server. Such a transfercan typically occur at the earlier of (a) timer exceeding a timeoutvalue (for example, 2 minutes), and (b) data being sent for otherpurposes.

An example of (b3) is IM presence updates, stock ticker updates, weatherupdates, status updates, news feeds. When the UI of the application isin the foreground and/or active (for example, as indicated by thebacklight of the device/phone being lit or as determined or inferredfrom the status of other sensors), updates can be considered immediatewhenever server has something to push to the device. When theapplication is not in the foreground or not active, such updates can besuppressed until the application comes to foreground and is active.

With some embodiments, networks can be selected or optimizedsimultaneously for (a1) interactive traffic and (a2) background traffic.

In some embodiments, as the wireless device or mobile device proxy(separately or in conjunction with the server proxy) is able tocategorize the traffic as (for example) (a1) interactive traffic or (a2)background traffic, it can apply different policies to different typesof traffic. This means that it can internally operate differently for(a1) and (a2) traffic (for example, by allowing interactive traffic togo through to the network in whole or in part, and apply strictertraffic control to background traffic; or the device side only allows arequest to activate the radio if it has received information from theserver that the content at the host has been updated, etc.).

When the request does require access over the wireless network, thedisclosed technology can request the radio layer to apply differentnetwork configurations to different traffic. Depending on the type oftraffic and network this may be achieved by different means:

(1) Using 3G/4G for (a1) and 2G/2.5G for (a2);

(2) Explicitly specifying network configuration for different data sets(e.g. in terms of use of FACH (forward access channel) vs. DCH(dedicated channel), or otherwise requesting lower/more networkefficient data rates for background traffic); or

(3) Utilizing different network access points for different data sets(access points which would be configured to use network resourcesdifferently similar to (1) and (2) above).

Additionally, 3GPP Fast Dormancy calls for improvements so thatapplications, operating systems or the mobile device would haveawareness of the traffic type to be more efficient in the future.Embodiments of the disclosed system, having the knowledge of the trafficcategory and being able to utilize Fast Dormancy appropriately may solvethe problem identified in Fast Dormancy. This way the mobile orbroadband network does not need to be configured with a compromisedconfiguration that adversely impacts both battery consumption andnetwork signaling resources.

Polling Schedule

Detecting (or determining) a polling schedule allows the proxy server(server-side of the distributed cache system) to be as close as possiblewith its polls to the application polls. Many applications employscheduled interval polling (e.g., every 4 hours or every 30 seconds, atanother time interval). The client side proxy can detect automatic pollsbased on time measurements and create a automatic polling profile for anapplication. As an example, the local proxy attempts to detect the timeinterval between requests and after 2, 3, 4, or more polls, determinesan automatic rate if the time intervals are all within 1 second (oranother measure of relative closeness) of each other. If not, the clientmay collect data from a greater number of polling events (e.g., 10-12polls) and apply a statistical analysis to determine, compute, orestimate a value for the average interval that is used. The pollingprofile is delivered to the server where it is used. If it is a frequentmanual request, the locally proxy can substitute it with a defaultinterval for this application taken from a profile for non-criticalapplications.

In some embodiments, the local proxy (e.g., device side proxy) may keepmonitoring the application/client polls and update the polling interval.If it changes by more than 30% (or anotherpredetermined/dynamic/conditional value) from the current value, it iscommunicated to the proxy server (e.g., server-side proxy). Thisapproach can be referred to as the scenario of “lost interest.” In someinstances, the local proxy can recognize requests made outside of thisschedule, consider them “manual,” and treat them accordingly.

Application Classes/Modes of Caching

In some embodiments, applications can be organized into three groups ormodes of caching. Each mobile client/application can be categorized tobe treated as one of these modes, or treated using multiple modes,depending on one or more conditions.

A) Fully cached—local proxy updates (e.g., sends application requestsdirectly over the network to be serviced by the applicationserver/content host) only when the proxy server tells the local proxy toupdate. In this mode, the local proxy can ignore manual requests and theproxy server uses the detected automatic profile (e.g., sports scoreapplets, Facebook, every 10, 15, 30, or more polls) to poll theapplication server/content provider.

B) Partially cached—the local proxy uses the local or internal cache forautomatic requests (e.g., application automatic refreshes), otherscheduled requests but passes through some manual requests (e.g., emaildownload, EBay or some Facebook requests); and

C) Never cached (e.g., real-time stock ticker, sports scores/statuses;however, in some instances, 15 minutes delayed quotes can be safelyplaced on 30 seconds schedules—B or even A).

The actual application or caching mode classification can be determinedbased on the rate of content change and critical character of data.Unclassified applications by default can be set as class C.

Backlight and Active Applications

In some embodiments, the local proxy starts by detecting the devicebacklight status. Requests made with the screen light ‘off’ can beallowed to use the local cache if a request with identical signature isregistered with the proxy server, which is polling the original hostserver/content server(s) to which the requests are directed. If thescreen light is ‘on’, further detection can be made to determine whetherit is a background application or for other indicators that local cacheentries can or cannot be used to satisfy the request. When identified,the requests for which local entries can be used may be processedidentically to the screen light off situation. Foreground requests canuse the aforementioned application classification to assess when cacheddata is safe to use to process requests.

FIG. 1A illustrates an example diagram of a system where a host server100 facilitates selective activation of network management polices bythe clients devices 150 when a cell tower 112 is congested to preventfurther aggravation of network congestion and potentially improvenetwork congestion within the cell. Although not discussed herein, thehost server 100 can be further configured to for management of traffic,content caching, and/or resource conservation between mobile devices(e.g., wireless devices 150), and an application server or contentprovider 110, or other content servers 102 such as, for example, adservers, promotional content servers, or e-coupon servers, in a wirelessnetwork (or broadband network) for resource conservation.

More specifically, the example of FIG. 1A illustrates an example diagramof a proxy and cache system distributed between the host server 100 andclient device 150 which facilitates network traffic management betweenthe device 150 and an application server or content provider 110, and/orthe additional content servers 120 for resource conservation and contentcaching. As discussed above, the host server 100 can further optimizeand facilitate selective activation of network management polices by theclients devices 150 when a cell tower 112 is congested to preventfurther aggravation of network congestion and potentially improvenetwork congestion within the cell location.

The distributed proxy and cache system can include, for example, theproxy server 125 (e.g., remote proxy) and the server cache 135,components on the server side. The server-side proxy 125 and cache 135can, as illustrated, reside internal to the host server 100. Inaddition, the proxy server 125 and cache 135 on the server-side can bepartially or wholly external to the host server 100 and in communicationvia one or more of the networks 106 and 108. For example, the proxyserver 125 may be external to the host server and the server cache 135may be maintained at the host server 100. Alternatively, the proxyserver 125 may be within the host server 100 while the server cache isexternal to the host server 100. In addition, each of the proxy server125 and the cache 135 may be partially internal to the host server 100and partially external to the host server 100. The applicationserver/content provider 110 can by any server including third partyservers or service/content providers further including advertisement,promotional content, publication, or electronic coupon servers orservices. Similarly, separate advertisement servers 120A, promotionalcontent servers 120B, and/or e-Coupon servers 120C as applicationservers or content providers are illustrated by way of example.

The distributed system can also, include, in one embodiment, client-sidecomponents, including by way of example but not limitation, a localproxy 175 (e.g., a mobile client on a mobile device) and/or a localcache 185, which can, as illustrated, reside internal to the device 150(e.g., a mobile device).

In addition, the client-side proxy 175 and local cache 185 can bepartially or wholly external to the device 150 and in communication viaone or more of the networks 106 and 108. For example, the local proxy175 may be external to the device 150 and the local cache 185 may bemaintained at the device 150. Alternatively, the local proxy 175 may bewithin the device 150 while the local cache 185 is external to thedevice 150. In addition, each of the proxy 175 and the cache 185 may bepartially internal to the host server 100 and partially external to thehost server 100.

In one embodiment, the distributed system can include an optionalcaching proxy server 199. The caching proxy server 199 can be acomponent which is operated by the application server/content provider110, the host server 100, or a network service provider 112, and or anycombination of the above to facilitate network traffic management fornetwork and device resource conservation. Caching proxy server 199 canbe used, for example, for caching content to be provided to the device150, for example, from one or more of, the application server/provider110, host server 100, and/or a network service provider 112. Contentcaching can also be entirely or partially performed by the remote proxy125 to satisfy application requests or other data requests at the device150.

In context aware traffic management and optimization for resourceconservation in a network (e.g., cellular or other wireless networks),characteristics of user activity/behavior and/or application behavior ata mobile device (e.g., any wireless device) 150 can be tracked by thelocal proxy 175 and communicated, over the network 106 to the proxyserver 125 component in the host server 100, for example, as connectionmetadata. The proxy server 125 which in turn is coupled to theapplication server/provider 110 provides content and data to satisfyrequests made at the device 150.

In addition, the local proxy 175 can identify and retrieve mobile deviceproperties, including one or more of, battery level, network that thedevice is registered on, radio state, or whether the mobile device isbeing used (e.g., interacted with by a user). In some instances, thelocal proxy 175 can delay, expedite (prefetch), and/or modify data priorto transmission to the proxy server 125, when appropriate, as will befurther detailed with references to the description associated with theexamples of FIGS. 2-3.

The local database 185 can be included in the local proxy 175 or coupledto the local proxy 175 and can be queried for a locally stored responseto the data request prior to the data request being forwarded on to theproxy server 125. Locally cached responses can be used by the localproxy 175 to satisfy certain application requests of the mobile device150, by retrieving cached content stored in the cache storage 185, whenthe cached content is still valid.

Similarly, the proxy server 125 of the host server 100 can also delay,expedite, or modify data from the local proxy prior to transmission tothe content sources (e.g., the application server/content provider 110).In addition, the proxy server 125 uses device properties and connectionmetadata to generate rules for satisfying request of applications on themobile device 150. The proxy server 125 can gather real time trafficinformation about requests of applications for later use in optimizingsimilar connections with the mobile device 150 or other mobile devices.

In general, the local proxy 175 and the proxy server 125 are transparentto the multiple applications executing on the mobile device. The localproxy 175 is generally transparent to the operating system or platformof the mobile device and may or may not be specific to devicemanufacturers. In some instances, the local proxy 175 is optionallycustomizable in part or in whole to be device specific. In someembodiments, the local proxy 175 may be bundled into a wireless model, afirewall, and/or a router.

In general, the disclosed distributed proxy and cache system allowsoptimization of network usage, for example, by serving requests from thelocal cache 185, the local proxy 175 reduces the number of requests thatneed to be satisfied over the network 106. Further, the local proxy 175and the proxy server 125 may filter irrelevant data from thecommunicated data. In addition, the local proxy 175 and the proxy server125 can also accumulate low priority data and send it in batches toavoid the protocol overhead of sending individual data fragments. Thelocal proxy 175 and the proxy server 125 can also compress or transcodethe traffic, reducing the amount of data sent over the network 106and/or 108. The signaling traffic in the network 106 and/or 108 can bereduced, as the networks are now used less often and the network trafficcan be synchronized among individual applications.

With respect to the battery life of the mobile device 150, by servingapplication or content requests from the local cache 185, the localproxy 175 can reduce the number of times the radio module is powered up.The local proxy 175 and the proxy server 125 can work in conjunction toaccumulate low priority data and send it in batches to reduce the numberof times and/or amount of time when the radio is powered up. The localproxy 175 can synchronize the network use by performing the batched datatransfer for all connections simultaneously.

The client devices 150 can be any system and/or device, and/or anycombination of devices/systems that is able to establish a connection,including wired, wireless, cellular connections with another device, aserver and/or other systems such as host server 100 and/or applicationserver/content provider 110. Client devices 150 will typically include adisplay and/or other output functionalities to present information anddata exchanged between among the devices 150 and/or the host server 100and/or application server/content provider 110. The applicationserver/content provider 110 can by any server including third partyservers or service/content providers further including advertisement,promotional content, publication, or electronic coupon servers orservices.

For example, the client devices 150 can include mobile, hand held orportable devices, wireless devices, or non-portable devices and can beany of, but not limited to, a server desktop, a desktop computer, acomputer cluster, or portable devices, including a notebook, a laptopcomputer, a handheld computer, a palmtop computer, a mobile phone, acell phone, a smart phone, a PDA, a Blackberry device, a Palm device, ahandheld tablet (e.g., an iPad or any other tablet), a hand heldconsole, a hand held gaming device or console, any SuperPhone such asthe iPhone, and/or any other portable, mobile, hand held devices, orfixed wireless interface such as a M2M device, etc. In one embodiment,the client devices 150, host server 100, and application server 110 arecoupled via a network 106 and/or a network 108. In some embodiments, thedevices 150 and host server 100 may be directly connected to oneanother.

The input mechanism on client devices 150 can include touch screenkeypad (including single touch, multi-touch, gesture sensing in 2D or3D, etc.), a physical keypad, a mouse, a pointer, a track pad, motiondetector (e.g., including 1-axis, 2-axis, 3-axis accelerometer, etc.), alight sensor, capacitance sensor, resistance sensor, temperature sensor,proximity sensor, a piezoelectric device, device orientation detector(e.g., electronic compass, tilt sensor, rotation sensor, gyroscope,accelerometer), or a combination of the above.

Signals received or detected indicating user activity at client devices150 through one or more of the above input mechanism, or others, can beused in the disclosed technology in acquiring context awareness at theclient device 150. Context awareness at client devices 150 generallyincludes, by way of example but not limitation, client device 150operation or state acknowledgement, management, useractivity/behavior/interaction awareness, detection, sensing, tracking,trending, and/or application (e.g., mobile applications) type, behavior,activity, operating state, etc.

Context awareness in the present disclosure also includes knowledge anddetection of network side contextual data and can include networkinformation such as network capacity, bandwidth, traffic, type ofnetwork/connectivity, and/or any other operational state data. Networkside contextual data can be received from and/or queried from networkservice providers (e.g., cell provider 112 and/or Internet serviceproviders) of the network 106 and/or network 108 (e.g., by the hostserver and/or devices 150). In addition to application context awarenessas determined from the client 150 side, the application contextawareness may also be received from or obtained/queried from therespective application/service providers 110 (by the host 100 and/orclient devices 150).

The host server 100 can use, for example, contextual informationobtained for client devices 150, networks 106/108, applications (e.g.,mobile applications), application server/provider 110, or anycombination of the above, to manage the traffic in the system to satisfydata needs of the client devices 150 (e.g., to satisfy application orany other request including HTTP request). In one embodiment, thetraffic is managed by the host server 100 to satisfy data requests madein response to explicit or non-explicit user 103 requests and/ordevice/application maintenance tasks. The traffic can be managed suchthat network consumption, for example, use of the cellular network isconserved for effective and efficient bandwidth utilization. Inaddition, the host server 100 can manage and coordinate such traffic inthe system such that use of device 150 side resources (e.g., includingbut not limited to battery power consumption, radio use,processor/memory use) are optimized with a general philosophy forresource conservation while still optimizing performance and userexperience.

For example, in context of battery conservation, the device 150 canobserve user activity (for example, by observing user keystrokes,backlight status, or other signals via one or more input mechanisms,etc.) and alters device 150 behaviors. The device 150 can also requestthe host server 100 to alter the behavior for network resourceconsumption based on user activity or behavior.

In one embodiment, the traffic management for resource conservation isperformed using a distributed system between the host server 100 andclient device 150. The distributed system can include proxy server andcache components on the server side 100 and on the device/client side,for example, as shown by the server cache 135 on the server 100 side andthe local cache 185 on the client 150 side.

Functions and techniques disclosed for context aware traffic managementfor resource conservation in networks (e.g., network 106 and/or 108) anddevices 150, reside in a distributed proxy and cache system. The proxyand cache system can be distributed between, and reside on, a givenclient device 150 in part or in whole and/or host server 100 in part orin whole. Functions and techniques performed by the proxy and cachecomponents in the client device 150, the host server 100, and therelated components therein are described, respectively, in detail withfurther reference to the examples of FIGS. 2-3.

In one embodiment, client devices 150 communicate with the host server100 and/or the application server 110 over network 106, which can be acellular network and/or a broadband network. To facilitate overalltraffic management between devices 150 and various applicationservers/content providers 110 to implement network (bandwidthutilization) and device resource (e.g., battery consumption), the hostserver 100 can communicate with the application server/providers 110over the network 108, which can include the Internet (e.g., a broadbandnetwork).

In general, the networks 106 and/or 108, over which the client devices150, the host server 100, and/or application server 110 communicate, maybe a cellular network, a broadband network, a telephonic network, anopen network, such as the Internet, or a private network, such as anintranet and/or the extranet, or any combination thereof. For example,the Internet can provide file transfer, remote log in, email, news, RSS,cloud-based services, instant messaging, visual voicemail, push mail,VoIP, and other services through any known or convenient protocol, suchas, but is not limited to the TCP/IP protocol, UDP, HTTP, DNS, FTP,UPnP, NSF, ISDN, PDH, RS-232, SDH, SONET, etc.

The networks 106 and/or 108 can be any collection of distinct networksoperating wholly or partially in conjunction to provide connectivity tothe client devices 150 and the host server 100 and may appear as one ormore networks to the serviced systems and devices. In one embodiment,communications to and from the client devices 150 can be achieved by, anopen network, such as the Internet, or a private network, broadbandnetwork, such as an intranet and/or the extranet. In one embodiment,communications can be achieved by a secure communications protocol, suchas secure sockets layer (SSL), or transport layer security (TLS).

In addition, communications can be achieved via one or more networks,such as, but are not limited to, one or more of WiMax, a Local AreaNetwork (LAN), Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), a Personal areanetwork (PAN), a Campus area network (CAN), a Metropolitan area network(MAN), a Wide area network (WAN), a Wireless wide area network (WWAN),or any broadband network, and further enabled with technologies such as,by way of example, Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM),Personal Communications Service (PCS), Bluetooth, WiFi, Fixed WirelessData, 2G, 2.5G, 3G, 4G, IMT-Advanced, pre-4G, LTE Advanced, mobileWiMax, WiMax 2, WirelessMAN-Advanced networks, enhanced data rates forGSM evolution (EDGE), General packet radio service (GPRS), enhancedGPRS, iBurst, UMTS, HSPDA, HSUPA, HSPA, UMTS-TDD, 1xRTT, EV-DO,messaging protocols such as, TCP/IP, SMS, MMS, extensible messaging andpresence protocol (XMPP), real time messaging protocol (RTMP), instantmessaging and presence protocol (IMPP), instant messaging, USSD, IRC, orany other wireless data networks, broadband networks, or messagingprotocols.

FIG. 1B depicts an example diagram showing the hierarchical architectureof a mobile network including multiple cell towers 112 for servicingvarious clients devices that traverse various paths though cells 113.For example, multiple cells 113 can be combined in a Routing Area (RA)119. Similarly, multiple RAs 119 can be combined in a Location Area (LA)118. In one embodiment, each cell 113 is represented by a cellidentifier (CI) which is unique only within a location area 118.

In one embodiment, a complete cell identifier (or cell global identity(CGI)) can be used to uniquely identify a cell in the mobile network(i.e., both within and without a particular location area 118). In oneembodiment, a CGI can consist of a Mobile Country Code (MCC), a MobileNetwork Code (MNC), a Location Area Code (LAC) and a Cell Identifier(CI).

In one embodiment, a host server 100 and/or a core node facilitateselective activation of network management polices by the clientsdevices when a cell 113 is congested to prevent further aggravation ofnetwork congestion and potentially improve network congestion within thecell. The core node(s) 101 can be service operator nodes or controllerssuch as, for example, 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP)compliant RAN nodes such as a RNC (radio network controller) or aneNodeB (Evolved Node B), an MSC (mobile switching center), a MME(mobility management entity), or a SGSN (Serving GPRS support node). Asdiscussed above, most network operators typically do not have mechanismsto determine which cells are congested in real-time. Rather, the networkoperators (i.e., the core nodes) can monitor, track, process and/orotherwise determine which cells are historically congested in the mobilenetwork based on values or metrics that are collected and/or otherwisemonitored by the core nodes and/or cell towers 112. The congested cellscan be uniquely identified using associated location area codes and cellidentifiers (or CGIs). Additional telecommunication equipment and/orsystems can also be involved in gathering and/or processing thecongested cell information.

In one embodiment, the core nodes(s) send and/or update congested cellinformation to the host server 100 and/or the proxy server 125. The hostserver 100 and/or the proxy server 125 can track the location of clientdevices in the mobile network and provisions a subset of thisinformation for those clients based on the device locations.Alternatively or additionally, the client device can track and/orotherwise monitor its own location in the network based on networktopology information provided by one or more core nodes. The clientdevices can then determine when they enter a new location area and sendthe new location area to the host server 100 and/or the proxy server 125which then provisions a subset of the congested cell information (e.g.,congested cells in the new location area) to the device. In this manner,the entire (or full) congested cell list does not need to be sent to themobile (or client) devices. Sending the full list and updates for theentire mobile network would require significant signaling that would beoverly burdensome on the network causing additional congestion ratherthan alleviating the congestion. Additionally, the techniques describeddo not require tracking a client device's location history to predict asubset of information to send to the client device.

FIG. 1C depicts an example diagram whereby a distributed proxy systemcan facilitate selective activation of a network management policy by aclient device D1 when the client device D1 detects a congested cell.More specifically, as illustrated in the example of FIG. 1C, the clientdevice D1 can selectively activate an inactive network management policy(e.g., congestion policy) when the mobile device enters a cell that isindicated by a location area congested cell list. The location areacongested cell list can be provided by the host server 100 and/or theproxy server 125 when the host server 100 and/or the proxy server 125determines that the client device D1 crosses a boundary from onelocation area to another location area. Alternatively or additionally,the client device D1 can determine when it crosses a boundary from onelocation area to another location area request a new congested cell listassociated with the new location area. In one embodiment, the requestcan be an indication of the new location area. As discussed above withreference to FIG. 1B, each location area can include multiple cells 113and/or cell towers 112. The client device D1 can check the location areacongested cell list when the client device enters a new cell (e.g.,responsive to handover) to determine whether the new cell is congested.

A network service provider (e.g., network operator or cellular serviceprovider) can, e.g., using one or more core nodes 101, collect and/orotherwise monitor values and/or metrics associated with the mobilenetwork. For example, the values and/or metrics can include the type ofdata, times, etc. associated with each cell in the mobile network. Thenetwork service provider can determine which cells of the mobile networkare congested based on this information.

In one embodiment, the network service provider generates historicallisting of congested cells based on the historical values and/or metricsthat are collected or otherwise monitored by the core nodes 101. Thehistorical listing of congested cells can indicate past congested cellsfrom the entire mobile network (i.e., the listing can indicatehistorically congested cells in any number of location areas).Unfortunately, the historical listing of congested cells can be quitelarge and thus, sending this information and/or updates to each clientdevice would be burdensome and likely exacerbate any congestion issues.Accordingly, the historical listing of congested cells is provided to aproxy server that monitors the locations of client devices in the mobilenetwork and distributes only the congested cell information that isrelevant to the client devices, i.e., the appropriate location areacongested cell list.

In one embodiment, the network service provider can also, optionallyusing the host server 100 and/or proxy server 125, generate anddistribute network management policies that do not have a specificbinding to a particular cell 113, but rather a congestion trigger. Themobile device can, when entering a new cell, determine if a locationarea cell list indicates that the new cell is congested and, if so,identify and activate one or more inactive network management policiesthat have congestion triggers. The selective activation allows clientdevices to take congested cell information into account withoutrequiring additional signaling in the already congested cell.

Referring specifically to the example of FIG. 1C, prior to time t1,client device D1 has received one or more inactive network managementpolicies that have congestion triggers from the network service providervia one or more core nodes 101 or from the host server 100 and/or proxyserver 125. In addition to the inactive network management policies, theclient device D1 can have one or more active network managementpolicies. Additionally, the client device D1 has also received alocation area cell list from the host server 100 and/or proxy server125.

The client device D1 can continuously, periodically, etc., monitor itscurrent cell location (i.e., the serving or service cell). At time t1,the client device moves along path P1 from cell #1 to cell #2 and thus,the client device D1 detects a change in the serving or service cell(i.e., a handover). The client device D1 can monitor the device'slocation to determine if the client device D1 crosses a location areaboundary. If so, the client device D1 indicates the location areaboundary crossing to the host server 100 and/or proxy server 125. Thehost server 100 and/or proxy server 125 responsively provisions andsends the client device D1 a new location area cell list associated withthe new location area as discussed herein. In this case, cell #2 is inthe same location area as cell #1 and thus, the host server 100 and/orproxy server 125 does not send a new location area list to the clientdevice D1. Also subsequent to the handover, the client device D1identifies and/or otherwise determines whether the new cell, i.e., cell#2, is congested. The new cell, i.e., cell #2, is considered to becongested if the cell ID is indicated by a current location area celllist. In this case, cell #2 is not considered to be congested (i.e.,cell #2 is not indicated by the location area cell list for locationarea #1).

The client device D1 continues to move along path P1 and, at time t2detects another cell handover. In this case, the client device D1determines that it has crossed a location area boundary and thusrequests a new location area cell list from the host server 100 and/orproxy server 125. The host server 100 and/or proxy server 125responsively provisions and sends the client device D1 a new locationarea cell list for location area #2. In one or more embodiments, therequest for the new location area cell list can be made prior to actualhandover to the new location area. Next, the client device D1 identifiesand/or otherwise determines that the new cell, i.e., cell #3, is notcongested because the cell ID is not indicated by the location area celllist for location area #2.

The client device D1 continues to move along path P1 and, at time t3detects another cell handover. In this case, the client device D1identifies and/or otherwise determines that the new cell, i.e., cell #4,is congested because the cell ID is indicated by the location area celllist for location area #2. Accordingly, the client device D1 identifiesand activates one or more inactive network management policies that havecongestion triggers to, for example, prevent further aggravation ofnetwork congestion. Additionally, the client device D1 may deactivateactive network management policies. The active network managementpolicies may, for example, not have congestion triggers and mayoperation during not congested (e.g., normal) operation.

The client device D1 continues to move along path P1 and, at time t4detects another cell handover. In this case, the client device D1identifies and/or otherwise determines that the new cell, i.e., cell #5,is not congested because the cell ID is not indicated by the locationarea cell list for location area #2. Accordingly, the device D1identifies and deactivates the activated one or more network managementpolicies that have congestion triggers. Additionally, the client deviceD1 may reactive the deactivated network management policies that do nothave congestion triggers (e.g., the network management policies thatexecute during normal operations.

FIG. 1D illustrates an example diagram of a proxy and cache systemdistributed between the host server 100 and device 150 which facilitatesnetwork traffic management between the device 150 and an applicationserver or content provider 110, or other servers such as an ad server120A, promotional content server 120B, or an e-coupon server 120C forresource conservation and content caching. The proxy system distributedamong the host server 100 and the device 150 can further optimizesignaling in a wireless network for traffic utilizing proprietary(non-standard) and non-proprietary (e.g., HTTP) protocols.

The distributed proxy and cache system can include, for example, theproxy server 125 (e.g., remote proxy) and the server cache, 135components on the server side. The server-side proxy 125 and cache 135can, as illustrated, reside internal to the host server 100. Inaddition, the proxy server 125 and cache 135 on the server-side can bepartially or wholly external to the host server 100 and in communicationvia one or more of the networks 106 and 108. For example, the proxyserver 125 may be external to the host server and the server cache 135may be maintained at the host server 100. Alternatively, the proxyserver 125 may be within the host server 100 while the server cache isexternal to the host server 100. In addition, each of the proxy server125 and the cache 135 may be partially internal to the host server 100and partially external to the host server 100. The applicationserver/content provider 110 can by any server including third partyservers or service/content providers further including advertisement,promotional content, publication, or electronic coupon servers orservices. Similarly, separate advertisement servers 120A, promotionalcontent servers 120B, and/or e-Coupon servers 120C as applicationservers or content providers are illustrated by way of example.

The distributed system can also, include, in one embodiment, client-sidecomponents, including by way of example but not limitation, a localproxy 175 (e.g., a mobile client on a mobile device) and/or a localcache 185, which can, as illustrated, reside internal to the device 150(e.g., a mobile device).

In addition, the client-side proxy 175 and local cache 185 can bepartially or wholly external to the device 150 and in communication viaone or more of the networks 106 and 108. For example, the local proxy175 may be external to the device 150 and the local cache 185 may bemaintained at the device 150. Alternatively, the local proxy 175 may bewithin the device 150 while the local cache 185 is external to thedevice 150. In addition, each of the proxy 175 and the cache 185 may bepartially internal to the host server 100 and partially external to thehost server 100.

In one embodiment, the distributed system can include an optionalcaching proxy server 199. The caching proxy server 199 can be acomponent which is operated by the application server/content provider110, the host server 100, or a network service provider 112, and or anycombination of the above to facilitate network traffic management fornetwork and device resource conservation. Proxy server 199 can be used,for example, for caching content to be provided to the device 150, forexample, from one or more of, the application server/provider 110, hostserver 100, and/or a network service provider 112. Content caching canalso be entirely or partially performed by the remote proxy 125 tosatisfy application requests or other data requests at the device 150.

In context aware traffic management and optimization for resourceconservation in a network (e.g., cellular or other wireless networks),characteristics of user activity/behavior and/or application behavior ata mobile device (e.g., any wireless device) 150 can be tracked by thelocal proxy 175 and communicated, over the network 106 to the proxyserver 125 component in the host server 100, for example, as connectionmetadata. The proxy server 125 which in turn is coupled to theapplication server/provider 110 provides content and data to satisfyrequests made at the device 150.

In addition, the local proxy 175 can identify and retrieve mobile deviceproperties, including one or more of, battery level, network that thedevice is registered on, radio state, or whether the mobile device isbeing used (e.g., interacted with by a user). In some instances, thelocal proxy 175 can delay, expedite (prefetch), and/or modify data priorto transmission to the proxy server 125, when appropriate, as will befurther detailed with references to the description associated with theexamples of FIGS. 2-3.

The local database 185 can be included in the local proxy 175 or coupledto the local proxy 175 and can be queried for a locally stored responseto the data request prior to the data request being forwarded on to theproxy server 125. Locally cached responses can be used by the localproxy 175 to satisfy certain application requests of the mobile device150, by retrieving cached content stored in the cache storage 185, whenthe cached content is still valid.

Similarly, the proxy server 125 of the host server 100 can also delay,expedite, or modify data from the local proxy prior to transmission tothe content sources (e.g., the application server/content provider 110).In addition, the proxy server 125 uses device properties and connectionmetadata to generate rules for satisfying request of applications on themobile device 150. The proxy server 125 can gather real time trafficinformation about requests of applications for later use in optimizingsimilar connections with the mobile device 150 or other mobile devices.

In general, the local proxy 175 and the proxy server 125 are transparentto the multiple applications executing on the mobile device. The localproxy 175 is generally transparent to the operating system or platformof the mobile device and may or may not be specific to devicemanufacturers. In some instances, the local proxy 175 is optionallycustomizable in part or in whole to be device specific. In someembodiments, the local proxy 175 may be bundled into a wireless model, afirewall, and/or a router.

In one embodiment, the host server 100 can in some instances, utilizethe store and forward functions of a short message service center (SMSC)112, such as that provided by the network service provider, incommunicating with the device 150 in achieving network trafficmanagement. Note that 112 can also utilize any other type of alternativechannel including USSD or other network control mechanisms. As will befurther described with reference to the example of FIG. 5, the hostserver 100 can forward content or HTTP responses to the SMSC 112 suchthat it is automatically forwarded to the device 150 if available, andfor subsequent forwarding if the device 150 is not currently available.

In general, the disclosed distributed proxy and cache system allowsoptimization of network usage, for example, by serving requests from thelocal cache 185, the local proxy 175 reduces the number of requests thatneed to be satisfied over the network 106. Further, the local proxy 175and the proxy server 125 may filter irrelevant data from thecommunicated data. In addition, the local proxy 175 and the proxy server125 can also accumulate low priority data and send it in batches toavoid the protocol overhead of sending individual data fragments. Thelocal proxy 175 and the proxy server 125 can also compress or transcodethe traffic, reducing the amount of data sent over the network 106and/or 108. The signaling traffic in the network 106 and/or 108 can bereduced, as the networks are now used less often and the network trafficcan be synchronized among individual applications.

With respect to the battery life of the mobile device 150, by servingapplication or content requests from the local cache 185, the localproxy 175 can reduce the number of times the radio module is powered up.The local proxy 175 and the proxy server 125 can work in conjunction toaccumulate low priority data and send it in batches to reduce the numberof times and/or amount of time when the radio is powered up. The localproxy 175 can synchronize the network use by performing the batched datatransfer for all connections simultaneously.

FIG. 1E illustrates an example diagram of the logical architecture of adistributed proxy and cache system.

The distributed system can include, for example the followingcomponents:

Client Side Proxy 175: a component installed in the Smartphone, mobiledevice or wireless device 150 that interfaces with device's operatingsystem, as well as with data services and applications installed in thedevice. The client side proxy 175 is typically compliant with and ableto operate with standard or state of the art networking protocols.Additional components and features of the client-side proxy 175 areillustrated with further references to the examples of FIGS. 2A-2C andFIGS. 4A-4C.

The server side proxy 125 can include one or more servers that caninterface with third party application servers (e.g., 199), mobileoperator's network (which can be proxy 199 or an additional server thatis not illustrated) and/or the client side proxy 175. In general, theserver side proxy 125 can be compliant with and is generally able tooperate with standard or state of the art networking protocols and/orspecifications for interacting with mobile network elements and/or thirdparty servers. Additional components and features of the server-sideproxy 125 are illustrated with further references to the examples ofFIGS. 3A-3B and FIGS. 5A-5C.

Reporting and Usage Analytics Server 174: The Reporting and UsageAnalytics system or component 174 can collect information from theclient side 175 and/or the server side 125 and provides the necessarytools for producing reports and usage analytics can used for analyzingtraffic and signaling data. Such analytics can be used by the proxysystem in managing/reducing network traffic or by the network operatorin monitoring their networks for possible improvements and enhancements.Note that the reporting and usage analytics system/component 174 asillustrated, may be a server separate from the server-side proxy 125, orit may be a component of the server-side proxy 125, residing partiallyor wholly therein.

FIG. 1F illustrates an example diagram showing the architecture ofclient side components in a distributed proxy and cache system.

The client side components 175 can include software components or agentsinstalled on the mobile device that enables traffic optimization andperforms the related functionalities on the client side. Components ofthe client side proxy 175 can operate transparently for end users andapplications 163. The client side proxy 175 can be installed on mobiledevices for optimization to take place, and it can effectuate changes onthe data routes. Once data routing is modified, the client side proxy175 can respond to application requests to service providers or hostservers, in addition to or instead of letting those applications 163access data network directly. In general, applications 163 on the mobiledevice will not notice that the client side proxy 175 is responding totheir requests. Some example components of the client side proxy 175 aredescribed as follows:

Device State Monitor 121: The device state monitor 121 can beresponsible for identifying several states and metrics in the device,such as network status, display status, battery level, etc. such thatthe remaining components in the client side proxy 175 can operate andmake decisions according to device state, acting in an optimal way ineach state.

Traffic Recognizer 122: The traffic recognizer 122 analyzes all trafficbetween the wireless device applications 163 and their respective hostservers in order to identify recurrent patterns. Supported transportprotocols include, for example, DNS, HTTP and HTTPS, such that trafficthrough those ports is directed to the client side proxy 175. Whileanalyzing traffic, the client side proxy 175 can identify recurringpolling patterns which can be candidates to be performed remotely by theserver side proxy 125, and send to the protocol optimizer 123.

Protocol Optimizer 123: The protocol optimizer 123 can implement thelogic of serving recurrent request from the local cache 185 instead ofallowing those request go over the network to the serviceprovider/application host server. One is its tasks is to eliminate orminimize the need to send requests to the network, positively affectingnetwork congestion and device battery life.

Local Cache 185: The local cache 185 can store responses to recurrentrequests, and can be used by the Protocol Optimizer 123 to sendresponses to the applications 163.

Traffic Scheduler 124: The traffic scheduler 124 can temporally movecommunications to optimize usage of device resources by unifyingkeep-alive signaling so that some or all of the different applications163 can send keep-alive messages at the same time (traffic pipelining).Traffic scheduler l24 may also decide to delay transmission of data thatis not relevant at a given time (for example, when the device is notactively used).

Policy Manager 125: The policy manager 125 can store and enforce trafficoptimization and reporting policies provisioned by a Policy ManagementServer (PMS). At the client side proxy 175 first start, trafficoptimization and reporting policies (policy profiles) that is to beenforced in a particular device can be provisioned by the PolicyManagement Server.

Watch Dog 127: The watch dog 127 can monitor the client side proxy 175operating availability. In case the client side proxy 175 is not workingdue to a failure or because it has been disabled, the watchdog 127 canreset DNS routing rules information and can restore original DNSsettings for the device to continue working until the client side proxy175 service is restored.

Reporting Agent 126: The reporting agent 126 can gather informationabout the events taking place in the device and sends the information tothe Reporting Server. Event details are stored temporarily in the deviceand transferred to reporting server only when the data channel state isactive. If the client side proxy 175 doesn't send records withintwenty-four hours, the reporting agent 126 may attempt to open theconnection and send recorded entries or, in case there are no entries instorage, an empty reporting packet. All reporting settings areconfigured in the policy management server.

Push Client 128: The push client 128 can be responsible for the trafficto between the server side proxy 125 and the client side proxy 175. Thepush client 128 can send out service requests like content updaterequests and policy update requests, and receives updates to thoserequests from the server side proxy 125. In addition, push client 128can send data to a reporting server (e.g., the reporting and/or usageanalytics system which may be internal to or external to the server sideproxy 125).

The proxy server 199 has a wide variety of uses, from speeding up a webserver by caching repeated requests, to caching web, DNS and othernetwork lookups for a group of clients sharing network resources. Theproxy server 199 is optional. The distributed proxy and cache system(125 and/or 175) allows for a flexible proxy configuration using eitherthe proxy 199, additional proxy(s) in operator's network, or integratingboth proxies 199 and an operator's or other third-party's proxy.

FIG. 1G illustrates a diagram of the example components on the serverside of the distributed proxy and cache system.

The server side 125 of the distributed system can include, for example arelay server 142, which interacts with a traffic harmonizer 144, apolling server 145 and/or a policy management server 143. Each of thevarious components can communicate with the client side proxy 175, orother third party (e.g., application server/service provider 110 and/orother proxy 199) and/or a reporting and usage analytics system. Someexample components of the server side proxy 125 is described as follows:

Relay Server 142: The relay server 142 is the routing agent in thedistributed proxy architecture. The relay server 142 manages connectionsand communications with components on the client-side proxy 175installed on devices and provides an administrative interface forreports, provisioning, platform setup, and so on.

Notification Server 141: The notification server 141 is a module able toconnect to an operator's SMSC gateways and deliver SMS notifications tothe client-side proxy 175. SMS notifications can be used when an IP linkis not currently active, in order to avoid the client-side proxy 175from activating a connection over the wireless data channel, thusavoiding additional signaling traffic. However, if the IP connectionhappens to be open for some other traffic, the notification server 141can use it for sending the notifications to the client-side proxy 175.The user database can store operational data including endpoint(MSISDN), organization and Notification server 141 gateway for eachresource (URIs or URLs).

Traffic Harmonizer 144: The traffic harmonizer 144 can be responsiblefor communication between the client-side proxy 175 and the pollingserver 145. The traffic harmonizer 144 connects to the polling server145 directly or through the data storage 130, and to the client over anyopen or proprietary protocol such as the 7TP, implemented for trafficoptimization. The traffic harmonizer 144 can be also responsible fortraffic pipelining on the server side: if there's cached content in thedatabase for the same client, this can be sent over to the client in onemessage.

Polling Server 145: The polling server 145 can poll third partyapplication servers on behalf of applications that are being optimized).If a change occurs (i.e. new data available) for an application, thepolling server 145 can report to the traffic harmonizer 144 which inturn sends a notification message to the client-side proxy 175 for it toclear the cache and allow application to poll application serverdirectly.

Policy Management Server 143: The policy management server (PMS) 143allows administrators to configure and store policies for theclient-side proxies 175 (device clients). It also allows administratorsto notify the client-side proxies 175 about policy changes. Using thepolicy management server 143, each operator can configure the policiesto work in the most efficient way for the unique characteristics of eachparticular mobile operator's network.

Reporting and Usage Analytics Component: The Reporting and UsageAnalytics component or system collects information from the client side175 and/or from the server side 125, and provides the tools forproducing reports and usage analytics that operators can use foranalyzing application signaling and data consumption.

FIG. 2A depicts a block diagram illustrating an example of client-sidecomponents in a distributed proxy and cache system residing on a mobiledevice (e.g., wireless device) 250, that includes a location monitoringengine 270 that facilitates location monitoring and reporting and apolicy management engine 280 that facilitates management and selectiveactivation/deactivation of network management policies. FIG. 2B depictsa block diagram illustrating additional components in the locationmonitoring engine 270 shown in the example of FIG. 2A. FIG. 2C depicts ablock diagram illustrating additional components in the policymanagement engine 280.

The client-side components of FIG. 2A, with the exception of thelocation monitoring engine 270 and the policy management engine 280, arealso shown and discussed in greater detail with reference to FIGS.4A-4C.

Referring to FIG. 2B, the location monitoring engine 270 facilitateslocation monitoring of the mobile device and optional reporting to aproxy server. In one embodiment, the local proxy 275 includes thelocation monitoring engine 270. The location monitoring engine 270 caninclude a location determination engine 271 and a location reportingengine 275 having a current location store 276 and a location changedetection engine 277. The policy management engine 280 can include apolicy engine 281 having a policy identification engine 282 and a policyactivation/deactivation engine 283, and a policy store 285 having acongested cell list 286 and a network polices store 287. Additional orless components/modules/engines can be included in the local proxy 275and each illustrated component.

In one embodiment, the location monitoring engine 270 facilitateslocation monitoring and reporting. More specifically, the locationmonitoring engine 270 can monitor and report the location of the mobiledevice 250 to a remote proxy server such as, for example, proxy server125. The location monitoring engine 270 can include a locationdetermination engine 271 and a location reporting engine 275. Additionalor less modules/engines can be included.

The location determination engine 271 can monitor the location of themobile device by, for example, keeping track of the currently usedcell(s) tower(s) (or transceiver(s)) and identifying when a change orhandover occurs to a new cell tower (or transceiver). A cell (or cellcoverage area) is also referred to herein as a simply an area.

The location reporting engine 275 can receive and persist (i.e., store)the current cell providing cellular service to a mobile device in themobile network in a current location store 276. The location changedetection engine 277 can detect when a change in the current locationoccurs and notify the policy management engine 280. In one embodiment,the location reporting engine 275 reports a location area. For example,a new location area can reported prior to, during, or after a handoverfrom an old location area to the new location area. In some instances,reporting the location area can act as a request for a new location arealist.

Referring to FIG. 2C, the policy management engine 280 facilitatesmanagement and activation of various network management policies at themobile device. The policy management engine 280 can include a policyengine 281 and a policy store 285. The various components of the policymanagement engine 280 can singularly or in any combination perform thefollowing functions related to management of congestion policies:receive, persist, apply, revert, etc.:

The policy engine 281 can include a policy identification engine 282 anda policy activation/deactivation engine 283. The policy identificationengine 282 can, for example, identify and/or otherwise determine if acurrent cell providing cellular service to a mobile device in the mobilenetwork is on a cell list distributed by a server proxy responsive to achange in the current cell. The policy store 285 can receive and persist(i.e., store) a congested cell list 286 provided by a proxy server andone or more network policies 287 provided by the proxy server and/or a(cellular) service provider (i.e., provided by the core node).

FIG. 3A depicts a block diagram illustrating an example of server-sidecomponents in a distributed proxy and cache system, further including anetwork policy optimizer 501 for facilitating management and deploymentof various network management policies. FIG. 3B depicts a block diagramillustrating additional components in the network policy optimizer 501shown in the example of FIG. 3A.

The client-side components of FIG. 3A, with the exception of the networkpolicy optimizer 501, are also shown and discussed in greater detailwith reference to FIGS. 5A-5C.

Referring to FIG. 3B, the network policy optimizer 501 can include alocation area monitoring engine 502, a network management policygenerator 505, and a location area congested cell list engine 510. Thelocation area monitoring engine 502 can include a location area changedetection monitor 503 configured to track the location area of themobile devices in the mobile network based on indications and/ornotifications of the current cell locations that are received frommobile devices.

The network management policy generator 505 can include a web userinterface engine 506 and a policy delivery engine 507. The web userinterface engine 506 can be configured to provide networks serviceoperators with the ability to create/generate network managementpolicies. As discussed herein, the network management polices do nothave to be bound to a particular cell location and the polices caninclude one or more triggers including a congested cell triggerindicating to a mobile device that the congestion status of the currentcell location (in which the mobile device is “camping”), must be takeninto account when determine whether to apply (activate) the policy. Thepolicy delivery engine 507 can send the network management policy to thenetwork service operator and/or one or more mobile devices.

The location area congested cell list engine 510 includes a networkservice provider congested cell store 511, a location area congestedcell list provisioning manager 512, and a congested cell delivery engine513. The network service provider congested cell store 511 can beconfigured to store and/or update a historic list of congested cellsthat is provided by a network service provider. The location areacongested cell list provisioning engine 512 can be configured toprovision a location area cell list for a new location area includingcell identifiers (CIs) indicating congested cells in the new locationarea of multiple location areas of the mobile network. The location areacongested cell list provisioning engine 512 may provision the locationarea cell list for a new location area responsive to a change in thecurrent location area of the cell. The congested cell delivery engine512 is configured to distribute the location area cell list to themobile device.

FIG. 4A depicts a block diagram illustrating an example of client-sidecomponents in a distributed proxy and cache system residing on a mobiledevice (e.g., wireless device) 250 that manages traffic in a wirelessnetwork (or broadband network) for resource conservation, contentcaching, and/or traffic management. The client-side proxy (or localproxy 275) can further categorize mobile traffic and/or implementdelivery policies based on application behavior, content priority, useractivity, and/or user expectations.

The device 250, which can be a portable or mobile device (e.g., anywireless device), such as a portable phone, generally includes, forexample, a network interface 208 an operating system 204, a context API206, and mobile applications which may be proxy-unaware 210 orproxy-aware 220. Note that the device 250 is specifically illustrated inthe example of FIG. 2A as a mobile device, such is not a limitation andthat device 250 may be any wireless, broadband, portable/mobile ornon-portable device able to receive, transmit signals to satisfy datarequests over a network including wired or wireless networks (e.g.,WiFi, cellular, Bluetooth, LAN, WAN, etc.).

The network interface 208 can be a networking module that enables thedevice 250 to mediate data in a network with an entity that is externalto the host server 250, through any known and/or convenientcommunications protocol supported by the host and the external entity.The network interface 208 can include one or more of a network adaptorcard, a wireless network interface card (e.g., SMS interface, WiFiinterface, interfaces for various generations of mobile communicationstandards including but not limited to 2G, 3G, 3.5G, 4G, LTE, etc.,),Bluetooth, or whether or not the connection is via a router, an accesspoint, a wireless router, a switch, a multilayer switch, a protocolconverter, a gateway, a bridge, a bridge router, a hub, a digital mediareceiver, and/or a repeater.

Device 250 can further include, client-side components of thedistributed proxy and cache system which can include, a local proxy 275(e.g., a mobile client of a mobile device) and a cache 285. In oneembodiment, the local proxy 275 includes a user activity module 215, aproxy API 225, a request/transaction manager 235, a caching policymanager 245 having an application protocol module 248, a traffic shapingengine 255, and/or a connection manager 265. The traffic shaping engine255 may further include an alignment module 256 and/or a batching module257, the connection manager 265 may further include a radio controller266. The request/transaction manager 235 can further include anapplication behavior detector 236 and/or a prioritization engine 241,the application behavior detector 236 may further include a patterndetector 237 and/or and application profile generator 239. Additional orless components/modules/engines can be included in the local proxy 275and each illustrated component.

As used herein, a “module,” “a manager,” a “handler,” a “detector,” an“interface,” a “controller,” a “normalizer,” a “generator,” an“invalidator,” or an “engine” includes a general purpose, dedicated orshared processor and, typically, firmware or software modules that areexecuted by the processor. Depending upon implementation-specific orother considerations, the module, manager, handler, detector, interface,controller, normalizer, generator, invalidator, or engine can becentralized or its functionality distributed. The module, manager,handler, detector, interface, controller, normalizer, generator,invalidator, or engine can include general or special purpose hardware,firmware, or software embodied in a computer-readable (storage) mediumfor execution by the processor.

As used herein, a computer-readable medium or computer-readable storagemedium is intended to include all mediums that are statutory (e.g., inthe United States, under 35 U.S.C. 101), and to specifically exclude allmediums that are non-statutory in nature to the extent that theexclusion is necessary for a claim that includes the computer-readable(storage) medium to be valid. Known statutory computer-readable mediumsinclude hardware (e.g., registers, random access memory (RAM),non-volatile (NV) storage, to name a few), but may or may not be limitedto hardware.

In one embodiment, a portion of the distributed proxy and cache systemfor network traffic management resides in or is in communication withdevice 250, including local proxy 275 (mobile client) and/or cache 285.The local proxy 275 can provide an interface on the device 250 for usersto access device applications and services including email, IM, voicemail, visual voicemail, feeds, Internet, games, productivity tools, orother applications, etc.

The proxy 275 is generally application independent and can be used byapplications (e.g., both proxy-aware and proxy-unaware applications 210and 220 and other mobile applications) to open TCP connections to aremote server (e.g., the server 100 and/or server proxy 125/325 shown inthe examples of FIGS. 1A-1D, FIG. 3A, and FIG. 5A). In some instances,the local proxy 275 includes a proxy API 225 which can be optionallyused to interface with proxy-aware applications 220 (or applications(e.g., mobile applications) on a mobile device (e.g., any wirelessdevice)).

The applications 210 and 220 can generally include any user application,widgets, software, HTTP-based application, web browsers, video or othermultimedia streaming or downloading application, video games, socialnetwork applications, email clients, RSS management applications,application stores, document management applications, productivityenhancement applications, etc. The applications can be provided with thedevice OS, by the device manufacturer, by the network service provider,downloaded by the user, or provided by others.

One embodiment of the local proxy 275 includes or is coupled to acontext API 206, as shown. The context API 206 may be a part of theoperating system 204 or device platform or independent of the operatingsystem 204, as illustrated. The operating system 204 can include anyoperating system including but not limited to, any previous, current,and/or future versions/releases of, Windows Mobile, iOS, Android,Symbian, Palm OS, Brew MP, Java 2 Micro Edition (J2ME), Blackberry, etc.

The context API 206 may be a plug-in to the operating system 204 or aparticular client/application on the device 250. The context API 206 candetect signals indicative of user or device activity, for example,sensing motion, gesture, device location, changes in device location,device backlight, keystrokes, clicks, activated touch screen, mouseclick or detection of other pointer devices. The context API 206 can becoupled to input devices or sensors on the device 250 to identify thesesignals. Such signals can generally include input received in responseto explicit user input at an input device/mechanism at the device 250and/or collected from ambient signals/contextual cues detected at or inthe vicinity of the device 250 (e.g., light, motion, piezoelectric,etc.).

In one embodiment, the user activity module 215 interacts with thecontext API 206 to identify, determine, infer, detect, compute, predict,and/or anticipate, characteristics of user activity on the device 250.Various inputs collected by the context API 206 can be aggregated by theuser activity module 215 to generate a profile for characteristics ofuser activity. Such a profile can be generated by the user activitymodule 215 with various temporal characteristics. For instance, useractivity profile can be generated in real-time for a given instant toprovide a view of what the user is doing or not doing at a given time(e.g., defined by a time window, in the last minute, in the last 30seconds, etc.), a user activity profile can also be generated for a‘session’ defined by an application or web page that describes thecharacteristics of user behavior with respect to a specific task theyare engaged in on the device 250, or for a specific time period (e.g.,for the last 2 hours, for the last 5 hours).

Additionally, characteristic profiles can be generated by the useractivity module 215 to depict a historical trend for user activity andbehavior (e.g., 1 week, 1 mo., 2 mo., etc.). Such historical profilescan also be used to deduce trends of user behavior, for example, accessfrequency at different times of day, trends for certain days of the week(weekends or week days), user activity trends based on location data(e.g., IP address, GPS, or cell tower coordinate data) or changes inlocation data (e.g., user activity based on user location, or useractivity based on whether the user is on the go, or traveling outside ahome region, etc.) to obtain user activity characteristics.

In one embodiment, user activity module 215 can detect and track useractivity with respect to applications, documents, files, windows, icons,and folders on the device 250. For example, the user activity module 215can detect when an application or window (e.g., a web browser or anyother type of application) has been exited, closed, minimized,maximized, opened, moved into the foreground, or into the background,multimedia content playback, etc.

In one embodiment, characteristics of the user activity on the device250 can be used to locally adjust behavior of the device (e.g., mobiledevice or any wireless device) to optimize its resource consumption suchas battery/power consumption and more generally, consumption of otherdevice resources including memory, storage, and processing power. In oneembodiment, the use of a radio on a device can be adjusted based oncharacteristics of user behavior (e.g., by the radio controller 266 ofthe connection manager 265) coupled to the user activity module 215. Forexample, the radio controller 266 can turn the radio on or off, based oncharacteristics of the user activity on the device 250. In addition, theradio controller 266 can adjust the power mode of the radio (e.g., to bein a higher power mode or lower power mode) depending on characteristicsof user activity.

In one embodiment, characteristics of the user activity on device 250can also be used to cause another device (e.g., other computers, amobile device, a wireless device, or a non-portable device) or server(e.g., host server 100 and 300 in the examples of FIGS. 1A-1D, FIG. 3A,and FIG. 5A) which can communicate (e.g., via a cellular or othernetwork) with the device 250 to modify its communication frequency withthe device 250. The local proxy 275 can use the characteristicsinformation of user behavior determined by the user activity module 215to instruct the remote device as to how to modulate its communicationfrequency (e.g., decreasing communication frequency, such as data pushfrequency if the user is idle, requesting that the remote device notifythe device 250 if new data, changed, data, or data of a certain level ofimportance becomes available, etc.).

In one embodiment, the user activity module 215 can, in response todetermining that user activity characteristics indicate that a user isactive after a period of inactivity, request that a remote device (e.g.,server host server 100 and 300 in the examples of FIGS. 1A-1D, FIG. 3A,and FIG. 5A) send the data that was buffered as a result of thepreviously decreased communication frequency.

In addition, or in alternative, the local proxy 275 can communicate thecharacteristics of user activity at the device 250 to the remote device(e.g., host server 100 and 300 in the examples of FIGS. 1A-1D, FIG. 3A,and FIG. 5A) and the remote device determines how to alter its owncommunication frequency with the device 250 for network resourceconservation and conservation of device 250 resources.

One embodiment of the local proxy 275 further includes arequest/transaction manager 235, which can detect, identify, intercept,process, manage, data requests initiated on the device 250, for example,by applications 210 and/or 220, and/or directly/indirectly by a userrequest. The request/transaction manager 235 can determine how and whento process a given request or transaction, or a set ofrequests/transactions, based on transaction characteristics.

The request/transaction manager 235 can prioritize requests ortransactions made by applications and/or users at the device 250, forexample by the prioritization engine 241. Importance or priority ofrequests/transactions can be determined by the request/transactionmanager 235 by applying a rule set, for example, according to timesensitivity of the transaction, time sensitivity of the content in thetransaction, time criticality of the transaction, time criticality ofthe data transmitted in the transaction, and/or time criticality orimportance of an application making the request.

In addition, transaction characteristics can also depend on whether thetransaction was a result of user-interaction or other user-initiatedaction on the device (e.g., user interaction with a application (e.g., amobile application)). In general, a time critical transaction caninclude a transaction resulting from a user-initiated data transfer, andcan be prioritized as such. Transaction characteristics can also dependon the amount of data that will be transferred or is anticipated to betransferred as a result of the requested transaction. For example, theconnection manager 265, can adjust the radio mode (e.g., high power orlow power mode via the radio controller 266) based on the amount of datathat will need to be transferred.

In addition, the radio controller 266/connection manager 265 can adjustthe radio power mode (high or low) based on time criticality/sensitivityof the transaction. The radio controller 266 can trigger the use of highpower radio mode when a time-critical transaction (e.g., a transactionresulting from a user-initiated data transfer, an application running inthe foreground, any other event meeting a certain criteria) is initiatedor detected.

In general, the priorities can be set by default, for example, based ondevice platform, device manufacturer, operating system, etc. Prioritiescan alternatively or in additionally be set by the particularapplication; for example, the Facebook application (e.g., a mobileapplication) can set its own priorities for various transactions (e.g.,a status update can be of higher priority than an add friend request ora poke request, a message send request can be of higher priority than amessage delete request, for example), an email client or IM chat clientmay have its own configurations for priority. The prioritization engine241 may include set of rules for assigning priority.

The prioritization engine 241 can also track network providerlimitations or specifications on application or transaction priority indetermining an overall priority status for a request/transaction.Furthermore, priority can in part or in whole be determined by userpreferences, either explicit or implicit. A user, can in general, setpriorities at different tiers, such as, specific priorities forsessions, or types, or applications (e.g., a browsing session, a gamingsession, versus an IM chat session, the user may set a gaming session toalways have higher priority than an IM chat session, which may havehigher priority than web-browsing session). A user can setapplication-specific priorities, (e.g., a user may set Facebook-relatedtransactions to have a higher priority than LinkedIn-relatedtransactions), for specific transaction types (e.g., for all sendmessage requests across all applications to have higher priority thanmessage delete requests, for all calendar-related events to have a highpriority, etc.), and/or for specific folders.

The prioritization engine 241 can track and resolve conflicts inpriorities set by different entities. For example, manual settingsspecified by the user may take precedence over device OS settings,network provider parameters/limitations (e.g., set in default for anetwork service area, geographic locale, set for a specific time of day,or set based on service/fee type) may limit any user-specified settingsand/or application-set priorities. In some instances, a manualsynchronization request received from a user can override some, most, orall priority settings in that the requested synchronization is performedwhen requested, regardless of the individually assigned priority or anoverall priority ranking for the requested action.

Priority can be specified and tracked internally in any known and/orconvenient manner, including but not limited to, a binaryrepresentation, a multi-valued representation, a graded representationand all are considered to be within the scope of the disclosedtechnology.

TABLE I Change Change (initiated on device) Priority (initiated onserver) Priority Send email High Receive email High Delete email LowEdit email Often not possible to sync (Un)read email Low (Low ifpossible) Move message Low New email in deleted items Low Read more HighDelete an email Low Download High (Un)Read an email Low attachment Movemessages Low New Calendar event High Any calendar change HighEdit/change Calendar event High Any contact change High Add a contactHigh Wipe/lock device High Edit a contact High Settings change HighSearch contacts High Any folder change High Change a setting HighConnector restart High (if no changes Manual send/receive High nothingis sent) IM status change Medium Social Network Status Updates MediumAuction outbid or change High Severe Weather Alerts High notificationNews Updates Low Weather Updates Low

Table I above shows, for illustration purposes, some examples oftransactions with examples of assigned priorities in a binaryrepresentation scheme. Additional assignments are possible foradditional types of events, requests, transactions, and as previouslydescribed, priority assignments can be made at more or less granularlevels, e.g., at the session level or at the application level, etc.

As shown by way of example in the above table, in general, lowerpriority requests/transactions can include, updating message status asbeing read, unread, deleting of messages, deletion of contacts; higherpriority requests/transactions, can in some instances include, statusupdates, new IM chat message, new email, calendar eventupdate/cancellation/deletion, an event in a mobile gaming session, orother entertainment related events, a purchase confirmation through aweb purchase or online, request to load additional or download content,contact book related events, a transaction to change a device setting,location-aware or location-based events/transactions, or any otherevents/request/transactions initiated by a user or where the user isknown to be, expected to be, or suspected to be waiting for a response,etc.

Inbox pruning events (e.g., email, or any other types of messages), aregenerally considered low priority and absent other impending events,generally will not trigger use of the radio on the device 250.Specifically, pruning events to remove old email or other content can be‘piggy backed’ with other communications if the radio is not otherwiseon, at the time of a scheduled pruning event. For example, if the userhas preferences set to ‘keep messages for 7 days old,’ then instead ofpowering on the device radio to initiate a message delete from thedevice 250 the moment that the message has exceeded 7 days old, themessage is deleted when the radio is powered on next. If the radio isalready on, then pruning may occur as regularly scheduled.

The request/transaction manager 235, can use the priorities for requests(e.g., by the prioritization engine 241) to manage outgoing traffic fromthe device 250 for resource optimization (e.g., to utilize the deviceradio more efficiently for battery conservation). For example,transactions/requests below a certain priority ranking may not triggeruse of the radio on the device 250 if the radio is not already switchedon, as controlled by the connection manager 265. In contrast, the radiocontroller 266 can turn on the radio such a request can be sent when arequest for a transaction is detected to be over a certain prioritylevel.

In one embodiment, priority assignments (such as that determined by thelocal proxy 275 or another device/entity) can be used cause a remotedevice to modify its communication with the frequency with the mobiledevice or wireless device. For example, the remote device can beconfigured to send notifications to the device 250 when data of higherimportance is available to be sent to the mobile device or wirelessdevice.

In one embodiment, transaction priority can be used in conjunction withcharacteristics of user activity in shaping or managing traffic, forexample, by the traffic shaping engine 255. For example, the trafficshaping engine 255 can, in response to detecting that a user is dormantor inactive, wait to send low priority transactions from the device 250,for a period of time. In addition, the traffic shaping engine 255 canallow multiple low priority transactions to accumulate for batchtransferring from the device 250 (e.g., via the batching module 257). Inone embodiment, the priorities can be set, configured, or readjusted bya user. For example, content depicted in Table I in the same or similarform can be accessible in a user interface on the device 250 and forexample, used by the user to adjust or view the priorities.

The batching module 257 can initiate batch transfer based on certaincriteria. For example, batch transfer (e.g., of multiple occurrences ofevents, some of which occurred at different instances in time) may occurafter a certain number of low priority events have been detected, orafter an amount of time elapsed after the first of the low priorityevent was initiated. In addition, the batching module 257 can initiatebatch transfer of the cumulated low priority events when a higherpriority event is initiated or detected at the device 250. Batchtransfer can otherwise be initiated when radio use is triggered foranother reason (e.g., to receive data from a remote device such as hostserver 100 or 300). In one embodiment, an impending pruning event(pruning of an inbox), or any other low priority events, can be executedwhen a batch transfer occurs.

In general, the batching capability can be disabled or enabled at theevent/transaction level, application level, or session level, based onany one or combination of the following: user configuration, devicelimitations/settings, manufacturer specification, network providerparameters/limitations, platform-specific limitations/settings, deviceOS settings, etc. In one embodiment, batch transfer can be initiatedwhen an application/window/file is closed out, exited, or moved into thebackground; users can optionally be prompted before initiating a batchtransfer; users can also manually trigger batch transfers.

In one embodiment, the local proxy 275 locally adjusts radio use on thedevice 250 by caching data in the cache 285. When requests ortransactions from the device 250 can be satisfied by content stored inthe cache 285, the radio controller 266 need not activate the radio tosend the request to a remote entity (e.g., the host server 100, 300, asshown in FIGS. 1A-1D, FIG. 3A, and FIG. 5A or a contentprovider/application server such as the server/provider 110 shown in theexamples of FIG. 1A and FIG. 1D). As such, the local proxy 275 can usethe local cache 285 and the cache policy manager 245 to locally storedata for satisfying data requests to eliminate or reduce the use of thedevice radio for conservation of network resources and device batteryconsumption.

In leveraging the local cache, once the request/transaction manager 225intercepts a data request by an application on the device 250, the localrepository 285 can be queried to determine if there is any locallystored response, and also determine whether the response is valid. Whena valid response is available in the local cache 285, the response canbe provided to the application on the device 250 without the device 250needing to access the cellular network or wireless broadband network.

If a valid response is not available, the local proxy 275 can query aremote proxy (e.g., the server proxy 325 of FIG. 5A) to determinewhether a remotely stored response is valid. If so, the remotely storedresponse (e.g., which may be stored on the server cache 135 or optionalcaching server 199 shown in the example of FIGS. 1D-1E) can be providedto the mobile device, possibly without the mobile device 250 needing toaccess the cellular network, thus relieving consumption of networkresources.

If a valid cache response is not available, or if cache responses areunavailable for the intercepted data request, the local proxy 275, forexample, the caching policy manager 245, can send the data request to aremote proxy (e.g., server proxy 325 of FIG. 5A) which forwards the datarequest to a content source (e.g., application server/content provider110 of FIG. 1A and FIG. 1D) and a response from the content source canbe provided through the remote proxy, as will be further described inthe description associated with the example host server 300 of FIG. 5A.The cache policy manager 245 can manage or process requests that use avariety of protocols, including but not limited to HTTP, HTTPS, IMAP,POP, SMTP, XMPP, and/or ActiveSync. The caching policy manager 245 canlocally store responses for data requests in the local database 285 ascache entries, for subsequent use in satisfying same or similar datarequests.

The caching policy manager 245 can request that the remote proxy monitorresponses for the data request and the remote proxy can notify thedevice 250 when an unexpected response to the data request is detected.In such an event, the cache policy manager 245 can erase or replace thelocally stored response(s) on the device 250 when notified of theunexpected response (e.g., new data, changed data, additional data,etc.) to the data request. In one embodiment, the caching policy manager245 is able to detect or identify the protocol used for a specificrequest, including but not limited to HTTP, HTTPS, IMAP, POP, SMTP,XMPP, and/or ActiveSync. In one embodiment, application specifichandlers (e.g., via the application protocol module 246 of the cachingpolicy manager 245) on the local proxy 275 allows for optimization ofany protocol that can be port mapped to a handler in the distributedproxy (e.g., port mapped on the proxy server 325 in the example of FIG.5A).

In one embodiment, the local proxy 275 notifies the remote proxy suchthat the remote proxy can monitor responses received for the datarequest from the content source for changed results prior to returningthe result to the device 250, for example, when the data request to thecontent source has yielded same results to be returned to the mobiledevice. In general, the local proxy 275 can simulate application serverresponses for applications on the device 250, using locally cachedcontent. This can prevent utilization of the cellular network fortransactions where new/changed data is not available, thus freeing upnetwork resources and preventing network congestion.

In one embodiment, the local proxy 275 includes an application behaviordetector 236 to track, detect, observe, monitor, applications (e.g.,proxy-aware and/or unaware applications 210 and 220) accessed orinstalled on the device 250. Application behaviors, or patterns indetected behaviors (e.g., via the pattern detector 237) of one or moreapplications accessed on the device 250 can be used by the local proxy275 to optimize traffic in a wireless network needed to satisfy the dataneeds of these applications.

For example, based on detected behavior of multiple applications, thetraffic shaping engine 255 can align content requests made by at leastsome of the applications over the network (wireless network) (e.g., viathe alignment module 256). The alignment module 256 can delay orexpedite some earlier received requests to achieve alignment. Whenrequests are aligned, the traffic shaping engine 255 can utilize theconnection manager to poll over the network to satisfy application datarequests. Content requests for multiple applications can be alignedbased on behavior patterns or rules/settings including, for example,content types requested by the multiple applications (audio, video,text, etc.), device (e.g., mobile or wireless device) parameters, and/ornetwork parameters/traffic conditions, network service providerconstraints/specifications, etc.

In one embodiment, the pattern detector 237 can detect recurrences inapplication requests made by the multiple applications, for example, bytracking patterns in application behavior. A tracked pattern caninclude, detecting that certain applications, as a background process,poll an application server regularly, at certain times of day, oncertain days of the week, periodically in a predictable fashion, with acertain frequency, with a certain frequency in response to a certaintype of event, in response to a certain type user query, frequency thatrequested content is the same, frequency with which a same request ismade, interval between requests, applications making a request, or anycombination of the above, for example.

Such recurrences can be used by traffic shaping engine 255 to offloadpolling of content from a content source (e.g., from an applicationserver/content provider 110 of FIG. 1A and FIG. 1D) that would resultfrom the application requests that would be performed at the mobiledevice or wireless device 250 to be performed instead, by a proxy server(e.g., proxy server 125 of FIGS. 1A-1E or proxy server 325 of FIG. 3Aand FIG. 5A) remote from the device 250. Traffic shaping engine 255 candecide to offload the polling when the recurrences match a rule. Forexample, there are multiple occurrences or requests for the sameresource that have exactly the same content, or returned value, or basedon detection of repeatable time periods between requests and responsessuch as a resource that is requested at specific times during the day.The offloading of the polling can decrease the amount of bandwidthconsumption needed by the mobile device 250 to establish a wireless(cellular or other wireless broadband) connection with the contentsource for repetitive content polls.

As a result of the offloading of the polling, locally cached contentstored in the local cache 285 can be provided to satisfy data requestsat the device 250, when content change is not detected in the polling ofthe content sources. As such, when data has not changed, applicationdata needs can be satisfied without needing to enable radio use oroccupying cellular bandwidth in a wireless network. When data haschanged and/or new data has been received, the remote entity to whichpolling is offloaded, can notify the device 250. The remote entity maybe the host server 300 as shown in the example of FIG. 3A and FIG. 5A.

In one embodiment, the local proxy 275 can mitigate the need/use ofperiodic keep-alive messages (heartbeat messages) to maintain TCP/IPconnections, which can consume significant amounts of power thus havingdetrimental impacts on mobile device battery life. The connectionmanager 265 in the local proxy (e.g., the heartbeat manager 267) candetect, identify, and intercept any or all heartbeat (keep-alive)messages being sent from applications.

The heartbeat manager 267 can prevent any or all of these heartbeatmessages from being sent over the cellular, or other network, andinstead rely on the server component of the distributed proxy system(e.g., shown in FIG. 1D) to generate and send the heartbeat messages tomaintain a connection with the backend (e.g., applicationserver/provider 110 in the example of FIG. 1A).

The local proxy 275 generally represents any one or a portion of thefunctions described for the individual managers, modules, and/orengines. The local proxy 275 and device 250 can include additional orless components; more or less functions can be included, in whole or inpart, without deviating from the novel art of the disclosure.

FIG. 4B depicts a block diagram illustrating a further example ofcomponents in the cache system shown in the example of FIG. 4A which iscapable of caching and adapting caching strategies for mobileapplication behavior and/or network conditions.

In one embodiment, the caching policy manager 245 includes a metadatagenerator 203, a cache look-up engine 205, a cache appropriatenessdecision engine 246, a poll schedule generator 247, an applicationprotocol module 248, a cache or connect selection engine 249 and/or alocal cache invalidator 244. The cache appropriateness decision engine246 can further include a timing predictor 246 a,a content predictor 246b, a request analyzer 246 c, and/or a response analyzer 246 d, and thecache or connect selection engine 249 includes a response scheduler 249a. The metadata generator 203 and/or the cache look-up engine 205 arecoupled to the cache 285 (or local cache) for modification or additionto cache entries or querying thereof.

The cache look-up engine 205 may further include an ID or URI filter 205a, the local cache invalidator 244 may further include a TTL manager 244a, and the poll schedule generator 247 may further include a scheduleupdate engine 247 a and/or a time adjustment engine 247 b. Oneembodiment of caching policy manager 245 includes an application cachepolicy repository 243. In one embodiment, the application behaviordetector 236 includes a pattern detector 237, a poll interval detector238, an application profile generator 239, and/or a priority engine 241.The poll interval detector 238 may further include a long poll detector238 a having a response/request tracking engine 238 b. The poll intervaldetector 238 may further include a long poll hunting detector 238 c. Theapplication profile generator 239 can further include a response delayinterval tracker 239 a.

The pattern detector 237, application profile generator 239, and thepriority engine 241 were also described in association with thedescription of the pattern detector shown in the example of FIG. 4A. Oneembodiment further includes an application profile repository 242 whichcan be used by the local proxy 275 to store information or metadataregarding application profiles (e.g., behavior, patterns, type of HTTPrequests, etc.)

The cache appropriateness decision engine 246 can detect, assess, ordetermine whether content from a content source (e.g., applicationserver/content provider 110 in the example of FIG. 1A and FIG. 1D) withwhich a mobile device 250 interacts and has content that may be suitablefor caching. For example, the decision engine 246 can use informationabout a request and/or a response received for the request initiated atthe mobile device 250 to determine cacheability, potential cacheability,or non-cacheability. In some instances, the decision engine 246 caninitially verify whether a request is directed to a blacklisteddestination or whether the request itself originates from a blacklistedclient or application. If so, additional processing and analysis may notbe performed by the decision engine 246 and the request may be allowedto be sent over the air to the server to satisfy the request. The blacklisted destinations or applications/clients (e.g., mobile applications)can be maintained locally in the local proxy (e.g., in the applicationprofile repository 242) or remotely (e.g., in the proxy server 325 oranother entity).

In one embodiment, the decision engine 246, for example, via the requestanalyzer 246 c, collects information about an application or clientrequest generated at the mobile device 250. The request information caninclude request characteristics information including, for example,request method. For example, the request method can indicate the type ofHTTP request generated by the mobile application or client. In oneembodiment, response to a request can be identified as cacheable orpotentially cacheable if the request method is a GET request or POSTrequest. Other types of requests (e.g., OPTIONS, HEAD, PUT, DELETE,TRACE, or CONNECT) may or may not be cached. In general, HTTP requestswith uncacheable request methods will not be cached.

Request characteristics information can further include informationregarding request size, for example. Responses to requests (e.g., HTTPrequests) with body size exceeding a certain size will not be cached.For example, cacheability can be determined if the information about therequest indicates that a request body size of the request does notexceed a certain size. In some instances, the maximum cacheable requestbody size can be set to 8092 bytes. In other instances, different valuesmay be used, dependent on network capacity or network operator specificsettings, for example.

In some instances, content from a given application server/contentprovider (e.g., the server/content provider 110 of FIG. 1A and FIG. 1D)is determined to be suitable for caching based on a set of criteria, forexample, criteria specifying time criticality of the content that isbeing requested from the content source. In one embodiment, the localproxy (e.g., the local proxy 175 or 275 of FIG. 1D and FIG. 4A) appliesa selection criteria to store the content from the host server which isrequested by an application as cached elements in a local cache on themobile device to satisfy subsequent requests made by the application.

The cache appropriateness decision engine 246, further based on detectedpatterns of requests sent from the mobile device 250 (e.g., by a mobileapplication or other types of clients on the device 250) and/or patternsof received responses, can detect predictability in requests and/orresponses. For example, the request characteristics informationcollected by the decision engine 246, (e.g., the request analyzer 246 c)can further include periodicity information between a request and otherrequests generated by a same client on the mobile device or otherrequests directed to the same host (e.g., with similar or sameidentifier parameters).

Periodicity can be detected, by the decision engine 246 or the requestanalyzer 246 c, when the request and the other requests generated by thesame client occur at a fixed rate or nearly fixed rate, or at a dynamicrate with some identifiable or partially or wholly reproducible changingpattern. If the requests are made with some identifiable pattern (e.g.,regular intervals, intervals having a detectable pattern, or trend(e.g., increasing, decreasing, constant, etc.) the timing predictor 246a can determine that the requests made by a given application on adevice is predictable and identify it to be potentially appropriate forcaching, at least from a timing standpoint.

An identifiable pattern or trend can generally include any applicationor client behavior which may be simulated either locally, for example,on the local proxy 275 on the mobile device 250 or simulated remotely,for example, by the proxy server 325 on the host 300, or a combinationof local and remote simulation to emulate application behavior.

In one embodiment, the decision engine 246, for example, via theresponse analyzer 246 d, can collect information about a response to anapplication or client request generated at the mobile device 250. Theresponse is typically received from a server or the host of theapplication (e.g., mobile application) or client which sent the requestat the mobile device 250. In some instances, the mobile client orapplication can be the mobile version of an application (e.g., socialnetworking, search, travel management, voicemail, contact manager,email) or a web site accessed via a web browser or via a desktop client.

For example, response characteristics information can include anindication of whether transfer encoding or chunked transfer encoding isused in sending the response. In some instances, responses to HTTPrequests with transfer encoding or chunked transfer encoding are notcached, and therefore are also removed from further analysis. Therationale here is that chunked responses are usually large andnon-optimal for caching, since the processing of these transactions maylikely slow down the overall performance. Therefore, in one embodiment,cacheability or potential for cacheability can be determined whentransfer encoding is not used in sending the response.

In addition, the response characteristics information can include anassociated status code of the response which can be identified by theresponse analyzer 246 d. In some instances, HTTP responses withuncacheable status codes are typically not cached. The response analyzer246 d can extract the status code from the response and determinewhether it matches a status code which is cacheable or uncacheable. Somecacheable status codes include by way of example: 200—OK, 301—Redirect,302—Found, 303—See other, 304—Not Modified, 307Temporary Redirect, or500—Internal server error. Some uncacheable status codes can include,for example, 403—Forbidden or 404—Not found.

In one embodiment, cacheability or potential for cacheability can bedetermined if the information about the response does not indicate anuncacheable status code or indicates a cacheable status code. If theresponse analyzer 246 d detects an uncacheable status code associatedwith a given response, the specific transaction (request/response pair)may be eliminated from further processing and determined to beuncacheable on a temporary basis, a semi-permanent, or a permanentbasis. If the status code indicates cacheability, the transaction (e.g.,request and/or response pair) may be subject to further processing andanalysis to confirm cacheability.

Response characteristics information can also include response sizeinformation. In general, responses can be cached locally at the mobiledevice 250 if the responses do not exceed a certain size. In someinstances, the default maximum cached response size is set to 115 KB. Inother instances, the max cacheable response size may be different and/ordynamically adjusted based on operating conditions, network conditions,network capacity, user preferences, network operator requirements, orother application-specific, user specific, and/or device-specificreasons. In one embodiment, the response analyzer 246 d can identify thesize of the response, and cacheability or potential for cacheability canbe determined if a given threshold or max value is not exceeded by theresponse size.

Furthermore, response characteristics information can include responsebody information for the response to the request and other response toother requests generated by a same client on the mobile device, ordirected to a same content host or application server. The response bodyinformation for the response and the other responses can be compared,for example, by the response analyzer 246 d, to prevent the caching ofdynamic content (or responses with content that changes frequently andcannot be efficiently served with cache entries, such as financial data,stock quotes, news feeds, real-time sporting event activities, etc.),such as content that would no longer be relevant or up-to-date if servedfrom cached entries.

The cache appropriateness decision engine 246 (e.g., the contentpredictor 246 b) can definitively identify repeatability or identifyindications of repeatability, potential repeatability, or predictabilityin responses received from a content source (e.g., the contenthost/application server 110 shown in the example of FIG. 1D).Repeatability can be detected by, for example, tracking at least tworesponses received from the content source and determines if the tworesponses are the same. For example, cacheability can be determined, bythe response analyzer 246 d, if the response body information for theresponse and the other responses sent by the same mobile client ordirected to the same host/server are same or substantially the same. Thetwo responses may or may not be responses sent in response toconsecutive requests. In one embodiment, hash values of the responsesreceived for requests from a given application are used to determinerepeatability of content (with or without heuristics) for theapplication in general and/or for the specific request. Additional sameresponses may be required for some applications or under certaincircumstances.

Repeatability in received content need not be 100% ascertained. Forexample, responses can be determined to be repeatable if a certainnumber or a certain percentage of responses are the same, or similar.The certain number or certain percentage of same/similar responses canbe tracked over a select period of time, set by default or set based onthe application generating the requests (e.g., whether the applicationis highly dynamic with constant updates or less dynamic with infrequentupdates). Any indicated predictability or repeatability, or possiblerepeatability, can be utilized by the distributed system in cachingcontent to be provided to a requesting application or client on themobile device 250.

In one embodiment, for a long poll type request, the local proxy 175 canbegin to cache responses on a third request when the response delaytimes for the first two responses are the same, substantially the same,or detected to be increasing in intervals. In general, the receivedresponses for the first two responses should be the same, and uponverifying that the third response received for the third request is thesame (e.g., if R0=R1=R2), the third response can be locally cached onthe mobile device. Less or more same responses may be required to begincaching, depending on the type of application, type of data, type ofcontent, user preferences, or carrier/network operator specifications.

Increasing response delays with same responses for long polls canindicate a hunting period (e.g., a period in which theapplication/client on the mobile device is seeking the longest timebetween a request and response that a given network will allow), asdetected by the long poll hunting detector 238 c of the applicationbehavior detector 236.

An example can be described below using T0, T1, T2, where T indicatesthe delay time between when a request is sent and when a response (e.g.,the response header) is detected/received for consecutive requests:

T0=Response0(t)−Request0(t)=180 s.(+/−tolerance)

T1=Response1(t)−Request1(t)=240 s.(+/−tolerance)

T2=Response2(t)−Request2(t)=500 s.(+/−tolerance)

In the example timing sequence shown above, T0<T1<T2, this may indicatea hunting pattern for a long poll when network timeout has not yet beenreached or exceeded. Furthermore, if the responses R0, R1, and R2received for the three requests are the same, R2 can be cached. In thisexample, R2 is cached during the long poll hunting period withoutwaiting for the long poll to settle, thus expediting response caching(e.g., this is optional accelerated caching behavior which can beimplemented for all or select applications).

As such, the local proxy 275 can specify information that can beextracted from the timing sequence shown above (e.g., polling schedule,polling interval, polling type) to the proxy server and begin cachingand to request the proxy server to begin polling and monitoring thesource (e.g., using any of T0, T1, T2 as polling intervals but typicallyT2, or the largest detected interval without timing out, and for whichresponses from the source is received will be sent to the proxy server325 of FIG. 5A for use in polling the content source (e.g., applicationserver/service provider 310)).

However, if the time intervals are detected to be getting shorter, theapplication (e.g., mobile application)/client may still be hunting for atime interval for which a response can be reliably received from thecontent source (e.g., application/server server/provider 110 or 310),and as such caching typically should not begin until therequest/response intervals indicate the same time interval or anincreasing time interval, for example, for a long poll type request.

An example of handling a detected decreasing delay can be describedbelow using T0, T1, T2, T3, and T4 where T indicates the delay timebetween when a request is sent and when a response (e.g., the responseheader) is detected/received for consecutive requests:

T0=Response0(t)−Request0(t)=160 s.(+/−tolerance)

T1=Response1(t)−Request1(t)=240 s.(+/−tolerance)

T2=Response2(t)−Request2(t)=500 s.(+/−tolerance)

T3=Time out at 700 s.(+/−tolerance)

T4=Response4(t)−Request4(t)=600(+/−tolerance)

If a pattern for response delays T1<T2<T3>T4 is detected, as shown inthe above timing sequence (e.g., detected by the long poll huntingdetector 238 c of the application behavior detector 236), it can bedetermined that T3 likely exceeded the network time out during a longpoll hunting period. In Request 3, a response likely was not receivedsince the connection was terminated by the network, application, server,or other reason before a response was sent or available. On Request 4(after T4), if a response (e.g., Response 4) is detected or received,the local proxy 275 can then use the response for caching (if thecontent repeatability condition is met). The local proxy can also use T4as the poll interval in the polling schedule set for the proxy server tomonitor/poll the content source.

Note that the above description shows that caching can begin while longpolls are in hunting mode in the event of detecting increasing responsedelays, as long as responses are received and not timed out for a givenrequest. This can be referred to as the optional accelerated cachingduring long poll hunting. Caching can also begin after the hunting mode(e.g., after the poll requests have settled to a constant or nearconstant delay value) has completed. Note that hunting may or may notoccur for long polls and when hunting occurs; the proxy 275 cangenerally detect this and determine whether to begin to cache during thehunting period (increasing intervals with same responses) or wait untilthe hunt settles to a stable value.

In one embodiment, the timing predictor 246 a of the cacheappropriateness decision engine 246 can track timing of responsesreceived from outgoing requests from an application (e.g., mobileapplication) or client to detect any identifiable patterns which can bepartially wholly reproducible, such that locally cached responses can beprovided to the requesting client on the mobile device 250 in a mannerthat simulates content source (e.g., application server/content provider110 or 310 of FIG. 1A and FIG. 1D or FIG. 3A, respectively) behavior.For example, the manner in which (e.g., from a timing standpoint)responses or content would be delivered to the requestingapplication/client on the device 250. This ensures preservation of userexperience when responses to application or mobile client requests areserved from a local and/or remote cache instead of beingretrieved/received directly from the content source (e.g., application,content provider 110 or 310).

In one embodiment, the decision engine 246 or the timing predictor 246 adetermines the timing characteristics a given application (e.g., mobileapplication) or client from, for example, the request/response trackingengine 238 b and/or the application profile generator 239 (e.g., theresponse delay interval tracker 239 a). Using the timingcharacteristics, the timing predictor 246 a determines whether thecontent received in response to the requests are suitable or arepotentially suitable for caching. For example, poll request intervalsbetween two consecutive requests from a given application can be used todetermine whether request intervals are repeatable (e.g., constant, nearconstant, increasing with a pattern, decreasing with a pattern, etc.)and can be predicted and thus reproduced at least some of the timeseither exactly or approximated within a tolerance level.

In some instances, the timing characteristics of a given request typefor a specific application, for multiple requests of an application, orfor multiple applications can be stored in the application profilerepository 242. The application profile repository 242 can generallystore any type of information or metadata regarding applicationrequest/response characteristics including timing patterns, timingrepeatability, content repeatability, etc.

The application profile repository 242 can also store metadataindicating the type of request used by a given application (e.g., longpolls, long-held HTTP requests, HTTP streaming, push, COMET push, etc.)Application profiles indicating request type by applications can be usedwhen subsequent same/similar requests are detected, or when requests aredetected from an application which has already been categorized. In thismanner, timing characteristics for the given request type or forrequests of a specific application which has been tracked and/oranalyzed, need not be reanalyzed.

Application profiles can be associated with a time-to-live (e.g., or adefault expiration time). The use of an expiration time for applicationprofiles, or for various aspects of an application or request's profilecan be used on a case by case basis. The time-to-live or actualexpiration time of application profile entries can be set to a defaultvalue or determined individually, or a combination thereof. Applicationprofiles can also be specific to wireless networks, physical networks,network operators, or specific carriers.

One embodiment includes an application blacklist manager 201. Theapplication blacklist manager 201 can be coupled to the applicationcache policy repository 243 and can be partially or wholly internal tolocal proxy or the caching policy manager 245. Similarly, the blacklistmanager 201 can be partially or wholly internal to local proxy or theapplication behavior detector 236. The blacklist manager 201 canaggregate, track, update, manage, adjust, or dynamically monitor a listof destinations of servers/host that are ‘blacklisted,’ or identified asnot cached, on a permanent or temporary basis. The blacklist ofdestinations, when identified in a request, can potentially be used toallow the request to be sent over the (cellular) network for servicing.Additional processing on the request may not be performed since it isdetected to be directed to a blacklisted destination.

Blacklisted destinations can be identified in the application cachepolicy repository 243 by address identifiers including specific URIs orpatterns of identifiers including URI patterns. In general, blacklisteddestinations can be set by or modified for any reason by any partyincluding the user (owner/user of mobile device 250), operatingsystem/mobile platform of device 250, the destination itself, networkoperator (of cellular network), Internet service provider, other thirdparties, or according to a list of destinations for applications knownto be uncacheable/not suited for caching. Some entries in theblacklisted destinations may include destinations aggregated based onthe analysis or processing performed by the local proxy (e.g., cacheappropriateness decision engine 246).

For example, applications or mobile clients on the mobile device forwhich responses have been identified as non-suitable for caching can beadded to the blacklist. Their corresponding hosts/servers may be addedin addition to or in lieu of an identification of the requestingapplication/client on the mobile device 250. Some or all of such clientsidentified by the proxy system can be added to the blacklist. Forexample, for all application clients or applications that aretemporarily identified as not being suitable for caching, only thosewith certain detected characteristics (based on timing, periodicity,frequency of response content change, content predictability, size,etc.) can be blacklisted.

The blacklisted entries may include a list of requesting applications orrequesting clients on the mobile device (rather than destinations) suchthat, when a request is detected from a given application or givenclient, it may be sent through the network for a response, sinceresponses for blacklisted clients/applications are in most circumstancesnot cached.

A given application profile may also be treated or processed differently(e.g., different behavior of the local proxy 275 and the remote proxy325) depending on the mobile account associated with a mobile devicefrom which the application is being accessed. For example, a higherpaying account, or a premier account may allow more frequent access ofthe wireless network or higher bandwidth allowance thus affecting thecaching policies implemented between the local proxy 275 and proxyserver 325 with an emphasis on better performance compared toconservation of resources. A given application profile may also betreated or processed differently under different wireless networkconditions (e.g., based on congestion or network outage, etc.).

Note that cache appropriateness can be determined, tracked, and managedfor multiple clients or applications on the mobile device 250. Cacheappropriateness can also be determined for different requests or requesttypes initiated by a given client or application on the mobile device250. The caching policy manager 245, along with the timing predictor 246a and/or the content predictor 246 b which heuristically determines orestimates predictability or potential predictability, can track, manageand store cacheability information for various application or variousrequests for a given application. Cacheability information may alsoinclude conditions (e.g., an application can be cached at certain timesof the day, or certain days of the week, or certain requests of a givenapplication can be cached, or all requests with a given destinationaddress can be cached) under which caching is appropriate which can bedetermined and/or tracked by the cache appropriateness decision engine246 and stored and/or updated when appropriate in the application cachepolicy repository 243 coupled to the cache appropriateness decisionengine 246.

The information in the application cache policy repository 243 regardingcacheability of requests, applications, and/or associated conditions canbe used later on when same requests are detected. In this manner, thedecision engine 246 and/or the timing and content predictors 246 a/bneed not track and reanalyze request/response timing and contentcharacteristics to make an assessment regarding cacheability. Inaddition, the cacheability information can in some instances be sharedwith local proxies of other mobile devices by way of directcommunication or via the host server (e.g., proxy server 325 of hostserver 300).

For example, cacheability information detected by the local proxy 275 onvarious mobile devices can be sent to a remote host server or a proxyserver 325 on the host server (e.g., host server 300 or proxy server 325shown in the example of FIG. 5A, host 100 and proxy server 125 in theexample of FIGS. 1A-1D). The remote host or proxy server can thendistribute the information regarding application-specific,request-specific cacheability information and/or any associatedconditions to various mobile devices or their local proxies in awireless network or across multiple wireless networks (same serviceprovider or multiple wireless service providers) for their use.

In general, the selection criteria for caching can further include, byway of example but not limitation, the state of the mobile deviceindicating whether the mobile device is active or inactive, networkconditions, and/or radio coverage statistics. The cache appropriatenessdecision engine 246 can in any one or any combination of the criteria,and in any order, identifying sources for which caching may be suitable.

Once application servers/content providers having identified or detectedcontent that is potentially suitable for local caching on the mobiledevice 250, the cache policy manager 245 can proceed to cache theassociated content received from the identified sources by storingcontent received from the content source as cache elements in a localcache (e.g., local cache 185 or 285 shown in the examples of FIGS. 1Aand 1D and FIG. 4A, respectively) on the mobile device 250.

The response can be stored in the cache 285 (e.g., also referred as thelocal cache) as a cache entry. In addition to the response to a request,the cached entry can include response metadata having additionalinformation regarding caching of the response. The metadata may begenerated by the metadata generator 203 and can include, for example,timing data such as the access time of the cache entry or creation timeof the cache entry. Metadata can include additional information, such asany information suited for use in determining whether the responsestored as the cached entry is used to satisfy the subsequent response.For example, metadata information can further include, request timinghistory (e.g., including request time, request start time, request endtime), hash of the request and/or response, time intervals or changes intime intervals, etc.

The cache entry is typically stored in the cache 285 in association witha time-to-live (TTL), which for example may be assigned or determined bythe TTL manager 244 a of the cache invalidator 244. The time-to-live ofa cache entry is the amount of time the entry is persisted in the cache285 regardless of whether the response is still valid or relevant for agiven request or client/application on the mobile device 250. Forexample, if the time-to-live of a given cache entry is set to 12 hours,the cache entry is purged, removed, or otherwise indicated as havingexceeded the time-to-live, even if the response body contained in thecache entry is still current and applicable for the associated request.

A default time-to-live can be automatically used for all entries unlessotherwise specified (e.g., by the TTL manager 244 a), or each cacheentry can be created with its individual TTL (e.g., determined by theTTL manager 244 a based on various dynamic or static criteria). Notethat each entry can have a single time-to-live associated with both theresponse data and any associated metadata. In some instances, theassociated metadata may have a different time-to-live (e.g., a longertime-to-live) than the response data.

The content source having content for caching can, in addition or inalternate, be identified to a proxy server (e.g., proxy server 125 or325 shown in the examples of FIGS. 1A, 1C-1E and FIG. 5A, respectively)remote from and in wireless communication with the mobile device 250such that the proxy server can monitor the content source (e.g.,application server/content provider 110) for new or changed data.Similarly, the local proxy (e.g., the local proxy 175 or 275 of FIGS. 1Aand 1D-1E and FIG. 4A, respectively) can identify to the proxy serverthat content received from a specific application server/contentprovider is being stored as cached elements in the local cache 285.

Once content has been locally cached, the cache policy manager 245, uponreceiving future polling requests to contact the applicationserver/content host (e.g., 110 or 310), can retrieve the cached elementsfrom the local cache to respond to the polling request made at themobile device 250 such that a radio of the mobile device is notactivated to service the polling request. For example, the cache look-upengine 205 can query the cache 285 to identify the response to be servedto a response. The response can be served from the cache in response toidentifying a matching cache entry and also using any metadata storedwith the response in the cache entry. The cache entries can be queriedby the cache look-up engine using a URI of the request or another typeof identifier (e.g., via the ID or URI filter 205 a). The cache-lookupengine 205 can further use the metadata (e.g., extract any timinginformation or other relevant information) stored with the matchingcache entry to determine whether response is still suited for use inbeing served to a current request.

Note that the cache-look-up can be performed by the engine 205 using oneor more of various multiple strategies. In one embodiment, multiplecook-up strategies can be executed sequentially on each entry store dinthe cache 285, until at least one strategy identifies a matching cacheentry. The strategy employed to performing cache look-up can include astrict matching criteria or a matching criteria which allows fornon-matching parameters.

For example, the look-up engine 205 can perform a strict matchingstrategy which searches for an exact match between an identifier (e.g.,a URI for a host or resource) referenced in a present request for whichthe proxy is attempting to identify a cache entry and an identifierstored with the cache entries. In the case where identifiers includeURIs or URLs, the matching algorithm for strict matching will search fora cache entry where all the parameters in the URLs match. For example:

Example 1

1. Cache contains entry for http://test.com/products/2.

2. Request is being made to URI http://test.com/products/

Strict strategy will find a match, since both URIs are same.

Example 2

1. Cache contains entry for http://test.com/products/?query=all

2. Request is being made to URI http://test.com/products/?query=sub

Under the strict strategy outlined above, a match will not be foundsince the URIs differ in the query parameter.

In another example strategy, the look-up engine 205 looks for a cacheentry with an identifier that partially matches the identifierreferences in a present request for which the proxy is attempting toidentify a matching cache entry. For example, the look-up engine 205 maylook for a cache entry with an identifier which differs from the requestidentifier by a query parameter value. In utilizing this strategy, thelook-up engine 205 can collect information collected for multipleprevious requests (e.g., a list of arbitrary parameters in anidentifier) to be later checked with the detected arbitrary parameter inthe current request. For example, in the case where cache entries arestored with URI or URL identifiers, the look-up engine searches for acache entry with a URI differing by a query parameter. If found, theengine 205 can examine the cache entry for information collected duringprevious requests (e.g., a list of arbitrary parameters) and checkedwhether the arbitrary parameter detected in or extracted from thecurrent URI/URL belongs to the arbitrary parameters list.

Example 1

-   -   1. Cache contains entry for http://test.com/products/?query=all,        where query is marked as arbitrary.    -   2. Request is being made to URI        http://text.com/products/?query=sub        Match will be found, since query parameter is marked as        arbitrary.

Example 2

-   -   1. Cache contains entry for http://test.com/products/?query=all,        where query is marked as arbitrary.    -   2. Request is being made to URI        http://test.com/products/?query=sub&sort=asc        Match will not be found, since current request contains sort        parameter which is not marked as arbitrary in the cache entry.

Additional strategies for detecting cache hit may be employed. Thesestrategies can be implemented singly or in any combination thereof. Acache-hit can be determined when any one of these strategies determinesa match. A cache miss may be indicated when the look-up engine 205determines that the requested data cannot be served from the cache 285,for any reason. For example, a cache miss may be determined when nocache entries are identified for any or all utilized look-up strategies.

Cache miss may also be determined when a matching cache entry exists butdetermined to be invalid or irrelevant for the current request. Forexample, the look-up engine 205 may further analyze metadata (e.g.,which may include timing data of the cache entry) associated with thematching cache entry to determine whether it is still suitable for usein responding to the present request.

When the look-up engine 205 has identified a cache hit (e.g., an eventindicating that the requested data can be served from the cache), thestored response in the matching cache entry can be served from the cacheto satisfy the request of an application/client.

By servicing requests using cache entries stored in cache 285, networkbandwidth and other resources need not be used to request/receive pollresponses which may have not changed from a response that has alreadybeen received at the mobile device 250. Such servicing and fulfillingapplication (e.g., mobile application) requests locally via cacheentries in the local cache 285 allows for more efficient resource andmobile network traffic utilization and management since the request neednot be sent over the wireless network further consuming bandwidth. Ingeneral, the cache 285 can be persisted between power on/off of themobile device 250, and persisted across application/client refreshes andrestarts.

For example, the local proxy 275, upon receipt of an outgoing requestfrom its mobile device 250 or from an application or other type ofclient on the mobile device 250, can intercept the request and determinewhether a cached response is available in the local cache 285 of themobile device 250. If so, the outgoing request is responded to by thelocal proxy 275 using the cached response on the cache of the mobiledevice. As such, the outgoing request can be filled or satisfied withouta need to send the outgoing request over the wireless network, thusconserving network resources and battery consumption.

In one embodiment, the responding to the requesting application/clienton the device 250 is timed to correspond to a manner in which thecontent server would have responded to the outgoing request over apersistent connection (e.g., over the persistent connection, orlong-held HTTP connection, long poll type connection, that would havebeen established absent interception by the local proxy). The timing ofthe response can be emulated or simulated by the local proxy 275 topreserve application behavior such that end user experience is notaffected, or minimally affected by serving stored content from the localcache 285 rather than fresh content received from the intended contentsource (e.g., content host/application server 110 of FIG. 1A and FIG.1D). The timing can be replicated exactly or estimated within atolerance parameter, which may go unnoticed by the user or treatedsimilarly by the application so as to not cause operation issues.

For example, the outgoing request can be a request for a persistentconnection intended for the content server (e.g., applicationserver/content provider of examples of FIG. 1A and FIG. 1D). In apersistent connection (e.g., long poll, COMET-style push or any otherpush simulation in asynchronous HTTP requests, long-held HTTP request,HTTP streaming, or others) with a content source (server), theconnection is held for some time after a request is sent. The connectioncan typically be persisted between the mobile device and the serveruntil content is available at the server to be sent to the mobiledevice. Thus, there typically can be some delay in time between when along poll request is sent and when a response is received from thecontent source. If a response is not provided by the content source fora certain amount of time, the connection may also terminate due tonetwork reasons (e.g., socket closure) if a response is not sent.

Thus, to emulate a response from a content server sent over a persistentconnection (e.g., a long poll style connection), the manner of responseof the content server can be simulated by allowing a time interval toelapse before responding to the outgoing request with the cachedresponse. The length of the time interval can be determined on a requestby request basis or on an application by application (client by clientbasis), for example.

In one embodiment, the time interval is determined based on requestcharacteristics (e.g., timing characteristics) of an application on themobile device from which the outgoing request originates. For example,poll request intervals (e.g., which can be tracked, detected, anddetermined by the long poll detector 238 a of the poll interval detector238) can be used to determine the time interval to wait beforeresponding to a request with a local cache entry and managed by theresponse scheduler 249 a.

One embodiment of the cache policy manager 245 includes a poll schedulegenerator 247 which can generate a polling schedule for one or moreapplications on the mobile device 250. The polling schedule can specifya polling interval that can be employed by an entity which is physicallydistinct and/or separate from the mobile device 250 in monitoring thecontent source for one or more applications (such that cached responsescan be verified periodically by polling a host server (host server 110or 310) to which the request is directed) on behalf of the mobiledevice. One example of such an external entity which can monitor thecontent at the source for the mobile device 250 is a proxy server (e.g.,proxy server 125 or 325 shown in the examples of FIGS. 1A, 1C-1E andFIG. 5A, respectively).

The polling schedule (e.g., including a rate/frequency of polling) canbe determined, for example, based on the interval between the pollingrequests directed to the content source from the mobile device. Thepolling schedule or rate of polling may be determined at the mobiledevice 250 (by the local proxy). In one embodiment, the poll intervaldetector 238 of the application behavior detector 236 can monitorpolling requests directed to a content source from the mobile device 250in order to determine an interval between the polling requests made fromany or all application (e.g., mobile application).

For example, the poll interval detector 238 can track requests andresponses for applications or clients on the device 250. In oneembodiment, consecutive requests are tracked prior to detection of anoutgoing request initiated from the application (e.g., mobileapplication) on the mobile device 250 by the same mobile client orapplication (e.g., mobile application). The polling rate can bedetermined using request information collected for the request for whichthe response is cached. In one embodiment, the rate is determined fromaverages of time intervals between previous requests generated by thesame client which generated the request. For example, a first intervalmay be computed between the current request and a previous request, anda second interval can be computed between the two previous requests. Thepolling rate can be set from the average of the first interval and thesecond interval and sent to the proxy server in setting up the cachingstrategy.

Alternate intervals may be computed in generating an average; forexample, multiple previous requests in addition to two previous requestsmay be used, and more than two intervals may be used in computing anaverage. In general, in computing intervals, a given request need nothave resulted in a response to be received from the host server/contentsource in order to use it for interval computation. In other words, thetiming characteristics of a given request may be used in intervalcomputation, as long as the request has been detected, even if therequest failed in sending, or if the response retrieval failed.

One embodiment of the poll schedule generator 247 includes a scheduleupdate engine 247 a and/or a time adjustment engine 247 b. The scheduleupdate engine 247 a can determine a need to update a rate or pollinginterval with which a given application server/content host from apreviously set value, based on a detected interval change in the actualrequests generated from a client or application (e.g., mobileapplication) on the mobile device 250.

For example, a request for which a monitoring rate was determined maynow be sent from the application (e.g., mobile application) or client ata different request interval. The scheduled update engine 247 a candetermine the updated polling interval of the actual requests andgenerate a new rate, different from the previously set rate to poll thehost at on behalf of the mobile device 250. The updated polling rate canbe communicated to the remote proxy (proxy server 325) over the cellularnetwork for the remote proxy to monitor the given host. In someinstances, the updated polling rate may be determined at the remoteproxy or remote entity which monitors the host.

In one embodiment, the time adjustment engine 247 b can further optimizethe poll schedule generated to monitor the application server/contentsource (110 or 310). For example, the time adjustment engine 247 b canoptionally specify a time to start polling to the proxy server. Forexample, in addition to setting the polling interval at which the proxyserver is to monitor the application, server/content host can alsospecify the time at which an actual request was generated at the mobileclient/application.

However, in some cases, due to inherent transmission delay or addednetwork delays or other types of latencies, the remote proxy serverreceives the poll setup from the local proxy with some delay (e.g., afew minutes, or a few seconds). This has the effect of detectingresponse change at the source after a request is generated by the mobileclient/application causing the invalidate of the cached response tooccur after it has once again been served to the application after theresponse is no longer current or valid.

To resolve this non-optimal result of serving the out-dated content onceagain before invalidating it, the time adjustment engine 247 b canspecify the time (t0) at which polling should begin in addition to therate, where the specified initial time t0 can be specified to the proxyserver 325 as a time that is less than the actual time when the requestwas generated by the mobile app/client. This way, the server polls theresource slightly before the generation of an actual request by themobile client such that any content change can be detected prior to anactual application request. This prevents invalid or irrelevantout-dated content/response from being served once again before freshcontent is served.

In one embodiment, an outgoing request from a mobile device 250 isdetected to be for a persistent connection (e.g., a long poll, COMETstyle push, and long-held (HTTP) request) based on timingcharacteristics of prior requests from the same application or client onthe mobile device 250. For example, requests and/or correspondingresponses can be tracked by the request/response tracking engine 238 bof the long poll detector 238 a of the poll interval detector 238.

The timing characteristics of the consecutive requests can be determinedto set up a polling schedule for the application or client. The pollingschedule can be used to monitor the content source (contentsource/application server) for content changes such that cached contentstored on the local cache in the mobile device 250 can be appropriatelymanaged (e.g., updated or discarded). In one embodiment, the timingcharacteristics can include, for example, a response delay time (‘D’)and/or an idle time (‘IT’).

In one embodiment, the response/request tracking engine 238 b can trackrequests and responses to determine, compute, and/or estimate, thetiming diagrams for applicant or client requests.

For example, the response/request tracking engine 238 b detects a firstrequest (Request 0) initiated by a client on the mobile device and asecond request (Request 1) initiated by the client on the mobile deviceafter a response is received at the mobile device responsive to thefirst request. The second request is one that is subsequent to the firstrequest.

In one embodiment, the response/request tracking engine 238 b can trackrequests and responses to determine, compute, and/or estimate the timingdiagrams for applicant or client requests. The response/request trackingengine 238 b can detect a first request initiated by a client on themobile device and a second request initiated by the client on the mobiledevice after a response is received at the mobile device responsive tothe first request. The second request is one that is subsequent to thefirst request.

The response/request tracking engine 238 b further determines relativetimings between the first, second requests, and the response received inresponse to the first request. In general, the relative timings can beused by the long poll detector 238 a to determine whether requestsgenerated by the application are long poll requests.

Note that in general, the first and second requests that are used by theresponse/request tracking engine 238 b in computing the relative timingsare selected for use after a long poll hunting period has settled or inthe event when long poll hunting does not occur. Timing characteristicsthat are typical of a long poll hunting period can be, for example,detected by the long poll hunting detector 238 c. In other words, therequests tracked by the response/request tracking engine 238 b and usedfor determining whether a given request is a long poll occurs after thelong poll has settled.

In one embodiment, the long poll hunting detector 238 c can identify ordetect hunting mode, by identifying increasing request intervals (e.g.,increasing delays). The long poll hunting detector 238 a can also detecthunting mode by detecting increasing request intervals, followed by arequest with no response (e.g., connection timed out), or by detectingincreasing request intervals followed by a decrease in the interval. Inaddition, the long poll hunting detector 238 c can apply a filter valueor a threshold value to request-response time delay value (e.g., anabsolute value) above which the detected delay can be considered to be along poll request-response delay. The filter value can be any suitablevalue characteristic of long polls and/or network conditions (e.g., 2 s,5 s, 10 s, 15 s, 20 s., etc.) and can be used as a filter or thresholdvalue.

The response delay time (‘D’) refers to the start time to receive aresponse after a request has been sent and the idle refers to time tosend a subsequent request after the response has been received. In oneembodiment, the outgoing request is detected to be for a persistentconnection based on a comparison (e.g., performed by the tracking engine238 b) of the response delay time relative (‘D’) or average of (‘D’)(e.g., any average over any period of time) to the idle time (‘IT’), forexample, by the long poll detector 238 a. The number of averages usedcan be fixed, dynamically adjusted, or changed over a longer period oftime. For example, the requests initiated by the client are determinedto be long poll requests if the response delay time interval is greaterthan the idle time interval (D>IT or D>>IT). In one embodiment, thetracking engine 238 b of the long poll detector computes, determines, orestimates the response delay time interval as the amount of time elapsedbetween time of the first request and initial detection or full receiptof the response.

In one embodiment, a request is detected to be for a persistentconnection when the idle time (‘IT’) is short since persistentconnections, established in response to long poll requests or long pollHTTP requests for example, can also be characterized in detectingimmediate or near-immediate issuance of a subsequent request afterreceipt of a response to a previous request (e.g., IT ˜0). As such, theidle time (‘IT’) can also be used to detect such immediate ornear-immediate re-request to identify long poll requests. The absoluteor relative timings determined by the tracking engine 238 b are used todetermine whether the second request is immediately or near-immediatelyre-requested after the response to the first request is received. Forexample, a request may be categorized as a long poll request ifD+RT+IT˜D+RT since IT is small for this to hold true. IT may bedetermined to be small if it is less than a threshold value. Note thatthe threshold value could be fixed or calculated over a limited timeperiod (a session, a day, a month, etc.), or calculated over a longertime period (e.g., several months or the life of the analysis). Forexample, for every request, the average IT can be determined, and thethreshold can be determined using this average IT (e.g., the average ITless a certain percentage may be used as the threshold). This can allowthe threshold to automatically adapt over time to network conditions andchanges in server capability, resource availability or server response.A fixed threshold can take upon any value including by way of examplebut not limitation (e.g., 1 s. 2 s. 3 s. . . . etc.).

In one embodiment, the long poll detector 238 a can compare the relativetimings (e.g., determined by the tracker engine 238 b) torequest-response timing characteristics for other applications todetermine whether the requests of the application are long pollrequests. For example, the requests initiated by a client or applicationcan be determined to be long poll requests if the response delayinterval time (‘D’) or the average response delay interval time (e.g.,averaged over x number of requests or any number of delay interval timesaveraged over x amount of time) is greater than a threshold value.

The threshold value can be determined using response delay intervaltimes for requests generated by other clients, for example by therequest/response tracking engine 238 b and/or by the application profilegenerator 239 (e.g., the response delay interval tracker 239 a). Theother clients may reside on the same mobile device and the thresholdvalue is determined locally by components on the mobile device. Thethreshold value can be determined for all requests over all resourcesserver over all networks, for example. The threshold value can be set toa specific constant value (e.g., 30 seconds, for example) to be used forall requests, or any request which does not have an applicable thresholdvalue (e.g., long poll is detected if D>30 seconds).

In some instances, the other clients reside on different mobile devicesand the threshold can be determined by a proxy server (e.g., proxyserver 325 of the host 300 shown in the example of FIGS. 5A-B) which isexternal to the mobile device and able to communicate over a wirelessnetwork with the multiple different mobile devices, as will be furtherdescribed with reference to FIG. 5B.

In one embodiment, the cache policy manager 245 sends the pollingschedule to the proxy server (e.g., proxy server 125 or 325 shown in theexamples of FIGS. 1A, 1C-1E and FIG. 5A, respectively) and can be usedby the proxy server in monitoring the content source, for example, forchanged or new content (updated response different from the cachedresponse associated with a request or application). A polling schedulesent to the proxy can include multiple timing parameters including butnot limited to interval (time from request 1 to request 2) or a time outinterval (time to wait for response, used in long polls, for example).Referring to the timing diagram of a request/response timing sequencetiming intervals ‘RI’, ‘D’, ‘RT’, and/or ‘IT’, or some statisticalmanipulation of the above values (e.g., average, standard deviation,etc.) may all or in part be sent to the proxy server.

For example, in the case when the local proxy 275 detects a long poll,the various timing intervals in a request/response timing sequence(e.g., ‘D’, ‘RT’, and/or ‘IT’) can be sent to the proxy server 325 foruse in polling the content source (e.g., application server/content host110). The local proxy 275 can also identify to the proxy server 325 thata given application or request to be monitored is a long poll request(e.g., instructing the proxy server to set a ‘long poll flag’, forexample). In addition, the proxy server uses the various timingintervals to determine when to send keep-alive indications on behalf ofmobile devices.

The local cache invalidator 244 of the caching policy manager 245 caninvalidate cache elements in the local cache (e.g., cache 185 or 285)when new or changed data (e.g., updated response) is detected from theapplication server/content source for a given request. The cachedresponse can be determined to be invalid for the outgoing request basedon a notification received from the proxy server (e.g., proxy 325 or thehost server 300). The source which provides responses to requests of themobile client can be monitored to determine relevancy of the cachedresponse stored in the cache of the mobile device 250 for the request.For example, the cache invalidator 244 can further remove/delete thecached response from the cache of the mobile device when the cachedresponse is no longer valid for a given request or a given application.

In one embodiment, the cached response is removed from the cache afterit is provided once again to an application which generated the outgoingrequest after determining that the cached response is no longer valid.The cached response can be provided again without waiting for the timeinterval or provided again after waiting for a time interval (e.g., thetime interval determined to be specific to emulate the response delay ina long poll). In one embodiment, the time interval is the response delay‘D’ or an average value of the response delay ‘D’ over two or morevalues.

The new or changed data can be, for example, detected by the proxyserver (e.g., proxy server 125 or 325 shown in the examples of FIGS. 1A,1C-1E and FIG. 5A, respectively). When a cache entry for a givenrequest/poll has been invalidated, the use of the radio on the mobiledevice 250 can be enabled (e.g., by the local proxy 275 or the cachepolicy manager 245) to satisfy the subsequent polling requests.

One embodiment of the cache policy manager 245 includes a cache orconnect selection engine 249 which can decide whether to use a locallycached entry to satisfy a poll/content request generated at the mobiledevice 250 by an application or widget. For example, the local proxy 275or the cache policy manger 245 can intercept a polling request, made byan application (e.g., mobile application) on the mobile device, tocontact the application server/content provider. The selection engine249 can determine whether the content received for the interceptedrequest has been locally stored as cache elements for deciding whetherthe radio of the mobile device needs to be activated to satisfy therequest made by the application (e.g., mobile application) and alsodetermine whether the cached response is still valid for the outgoingrequest prior to responding to the outgoing request using the cachedresponse.

In one embodiment, the local proxy 275, in response to determining thatrelevant cached content exists and is still valid, can retrieve thecached elements from the local cache to provide a response to theapplication (e.g., mobile application) which made the polling requestsuch that a radio of the mobile device is not activated to provide theresponse to the application (e.g., mobile application). In general, thelocal proxy 275 continues to provide the cached response each time theoutgoing request is received until the updated response different fromthe cached response is detected.

When it is determined that the cached response is no longer valid, a newrequest for a given request is transmitted over the wireless network foran updated response. The request can be transmitted to the applicationserver/content provider (e.g., server/host 110) or the proxy server onthe host server (e.g., proxy 325 on the host 300) for a new and updatedresponse. In one embodiment the cached response can be provided again asa response to the outgoing request if a new response is not receivedwithin the time interval, prior to removal of the cached response fromthe cache on the mobile device.

FIG. 4C depicts a block diagram illustrating examples of additionalcomponents in the local proxy 275 shown in the example of FIG. 4A whichis further capable of performing mobile traffic categorization andpolicy implementation based on application behavior and/or useractivity.

In this embodiment of the local proxy 275, the user activity module 215further includes one or more of, a user activity tracker 215 a, a useractivity prediction engine 215 b, and/or a user expectation manager 215c. The application behavior detect 236 can further include aprioritization engine 241 a, a time criticality detection engine 241 b,an application state categorizer 241 c, and/or an application trafficcategorizer 241 d. The local proxy 275 can further include a backlightdetector 219 and/or a network configuration selection engine 251. Thenetwork configuration selection engine 251 can further include, one ormore of, a wireless generation standard selector 251 a, a data ratespecifier 251 b, an access channel selection engine 251 c, and/or anaccess point selector.

In one embodiment, the application behavior detector 236 is able todetect, determined, identify, or infer, the activity state of anapplication on the mobile device 250 to which traffic has originatedfrom or is directed to, for example, via the application statecategorizer 241 c and/or the traffic categorizer 241 d. The activitystate can be determined by whether the application is in a foreground orbackground state on the mobile device (via the application statecategorizer 241 c) since the traffic for a foreground application vs. abackground application may be handled differently.

In one embodiment, the activity state can be determined, detected,identified, or inferred with a level of certainty of heuristics, basedon the backlight status of the mobile device 250 (e.g., by the backlightdetector 219) or other software agents or hardware sensors on the mobiledevice, including but not limited to, resistive sensors, capacitivesensors, ambient light sensors, motion sensors, touch sensors, etc. Ingeneral, if the backlight is on, the traffic can be treated as being ordetermined to be generated from an application that is active or in theforeground, or the traffic is interactive. In addition, if the backlightis on, the traffic can be treated as being or determined to be trafficfrom user interaction or user activity, or traffic containing data thatthe user is expecting within some time frame.

In one embodiment, the activity state is determined based on whether thetraffic is interactive traffic or maintenance traffic. Interactivetraffic can include transactions from responses and requests generateddirectly from user activity/interaction with an application and caninclude content or data that a user is waiting or expecting to receive.Maintenance traffic may be used to support the functionality of anapplication which is not directly detected by a user. Maintenancetraffic can also include actions or transactions that may take place inresponse to a user action, but the user is not actively waiting for orexpecting a response.

For example, a mail or message delete action at a mobile device 250generates a request to delete the corresponding mail or message at theserver, but the user typically is not waiting for a response. Thus, sucha request may be categorized as maintenance traffic, or traffic having alower priority (e.g., by the prioritization engine 241 a) and/or is nottime-critical (e.g., by the time criticality detection engine 214 b).

Contrastingly, a mail ‘read’ or message ‘read’ request initiated by auser a the mobile device 250, can be categorized as ‘interactivetraffic’ since the user generally is waiting to access content or datawhen they request to read a message or mail. Similarly, such a requestcan be categorized as having higher priority (e.g., by theprioritization engine 241 a) and/or as being time critical/timesensitive (e.g., by the time criticality detection engine 241 b).

The time criticality detection engine 241 b can generally determine,identify, infer the time sensitivity of data contained in traffic sentfrom the mobile device 250 or to the mobile device from a host server(e.g., host 300) or application server (e.g., app server/content source110). For example, time sensitive data can include, status updates,stock information updates, IM presence information, email messages orother messages, actions generated from mobile gaming applications,webpage requests, location updates, etc. Data that is not time sensitiveor time critical, by nature of the content or request, can includerequests to delete messages, mark-as-read or edited actions,application-specific actions such as an add-friend or delete-friendrequest, certain types of messages, or other information which does notfrequently changing by nature, etc. In some instances when the data isnot time critical, the timing with which to allow the traffic to passthrough is set based on when additional data needs to be sent from themobile device 250. For example, traffic shaping engine 255 can align thetraffic with one or more subsequent transactions to be sent together ina single power-on event of the mobile device radio (e.g., using thealignment module 256 and/or the batching module 257). The alignmentmodule 256 can also align polling requests occurring close in timedirected to the same host server, since these request are likely to beresponded to with the same data.

In the alternate or in combination, the activity state can be determinedfrom assessing, determining, evaluating, inferring, identifying useractivity at the mobile device 250 (e.g., via the user activity module215). For example, user activity can be directly detected and trackedusing the user activity tracker 215 a. The traffic resulting therefromcan then be categorized appropriately for subsequent processing todetermine the policy for handling. Furthermore, user activity can bepredicted or anticipated by the user activity prediction engine 215 b.By predicting user activity or anticipating user activity, the trafficthus occurring after the prediction can be treated as resulting fromuser activity and categorized appropriately to determine thetransmission policy.

In addition, the user activity module 215 can also manage userexpectations (e.g., via the user expectation manager 215 c and/or inconjunction with the activity tracker 215 and/or the prediction engine215 b) to ensure that traffic is categorized appropriately such thatuser expectations are generally met. For example, a user-initiatedaction should be analyzed (e.g., by the expectation manager 215) todetermine or infer whether the user would be waiting for a response. Ifso, such traffic should be handled under a policy such that the userdoes not experience an unpleasant delay in receiving such a response oraction.

In one embodiment, an advanced generation wireless standard network isselected for use in sending traffic between a mobile device and a hostserver in the wireless network based on the activity state of theapplication on the mobile device for which traffic is originated from ordirected to. An advanced technology standards such as the 3G, 3.5G, 3G+,4G, or LTE network can be selected for handling traffic generated as aresult of user interaction, user activity, or traffic containing datathat the user is expecting or waiting for. Advanced generation wirelessstandard network can also be selected for to transmit data contained intraffic directed to the mobile device which responds to foregroundactivities.

In categorizing traffic and defining a transmission policy for mobiletraffic, a network configuration can be selected for use (e.g., by thenetwork configuration selection engine 251) on the mobile device 250 insending traffic between the mobile device and a proxy server (325)and/or an application server (e.g., app server/host 110). The networkconfiguration that is selected can be determined based on informationgathered by the application behavior module 236 regarding applicationactivity state (e.g., background or foreground traffic), applicationtraffic category (e.g., interactive or maintenance traffic), anypriorities of the data/content, time sensitivity/criticality.

The network configuration selection engine 2510 can select or specifyone or more of, a generation standard (e.g., via wireless generationstandard selector 251 a), a data rate (e.g., via data rate specifier 251b), an access channel (e.g., access channel selection engine 251 c),and/or an access point (e.g., via the access point selector 251 d), inany combination.

For example, a more advanced generation (e.g., 3G, LTE, or 4G or later)can be selected or specified for traffic when the activity state is ininteraction with a user or in a foreground on the mobile device.Contrastingly, an older generation standard (e.g., 2G, 2.5G, or 3G orolder) can be specified for traffic when one or more of the following isdetected, the application is not interacting with the user, theapplication is running in the background on the mobile device, or thedata contained in the traffic is not time critical, or is otherwisedetermined to have lower priority.

Similarly, a network configuration with a slower data rate can bespecified for traffic when one or more of the following is detected, theapplication is not interacting with the user, the application is runningin the background on the mobile device, or the data contained in thetraffic is not time critical. The access channel (e.g., Forward accesschannel or dedicated channel) can be specified.

FIG. 5A depicts a block diagram illustrating an example of server-sidecomponents in a distributed proxy and cache system residing on a hostserver 300 that manages traffic in a wireless network for resourceconservation. The server-side proxy (or proxy server 325) can furthercategorize mobile traffic and/or implement delivery policies based onapplication behavior, content priority, user activity, and/or userexpectations.

The host server 300 generally includes, for example, a network interface308 and/or one or more repositories 312, 314, and 316. Note that server300 may be any portable/mobile or non-portable device, server, clusterof computers and/or other types of processing units (e.g., any number ofa machine shown in the example of FIG. 10) able to receive or transmitsignals to satisfy data requests over a network including any wired orwireless networks (e.g., Wi-Fi, cellular, Bluetooth, etc.).

The network interface 308 can include networking module(s) or devices(s)that enable the server 300 to mediate data in a network with an entitythat is external to the host server 300, through any known and/orconvenient communications protocol supported by the host and theexternal entity. Specifically, the network interface 308 allows theserver 300 to communicate with multiple devices including mobile phonedevices 350 and/or one or more application servers/content providers310.

The host server 300 can store information about connections (e.g.,network characteristics, conditions, types of connections, etc.) withdevices in the connection metadata repository 312. Additionally, anyinformation about third party application or content providers can alsobe stored in the repository 312. The host server 300 can storeinformation about devices (e.g., hardware capability, properties, devicesettings, device language, network capability, manufacturer, devicemodel, OS, OS version, etc.) in the device information repository 314.Additionally, the host server 300 can store information about networkproviders and the various network service areas in the network serviceprovider repository 316.

The communication enabled by network interface 308 allows forsimultaneous connections (e.g., including cellular connections) withdevices 350 and/or connections (e.g., including wired/wireless, HTTP,Internet connections, LAN, WiFi, etc.) with content servers/providers310 to manage the traffic between devices 350 and content providers 310,for optimizing network resource utilization and/or to conserver power(battery) consumption on the serviced devices 350. The host server 300can communicate with mobile devices 350 serviced by different networkservice providers and/or in the same/different network service areas.The host server 300 can operate and is compatible with devices 350 withvarying types or levels of mobile capabilities, including by way ofexample but not limitation, 1G, 2G, 2G transitional (2.5G, 2.75G), 3G(IMT-2000), 3G transitional (3.5G, 3.75G, 3.9G), 4G (IMT-advanced), etc.

In general, the network interface 308 can include one or more of anetwork adaptor card, a wireless network interface card (e.g., SMSinterface, Wi-Fi interface, interfaces for various generations of mobilecommunication standards including but not limited to 1G, 2G, 3G, 3.5G,4G type networks such as LTE, WiMAX, etc.), Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, or anyother network whether or not connected via a router, an access point, awireless router, a switch, a multilayer switch, a protocol converter, agateway, a bridge, a bridge router, a hub, a digital media receiver,and/or a repeater.

The host server 300 can further include server-side components of thedistributed proxy and cache system which can include a proxy server 325and a server cache 335. In one embodiment, the proxy server 325 caninclude an HTTP access engine 345, a caching policy manager 355, a proxycontroller 365, a traffic shaping engine 375, a new data detector 347and/or a connection manager 395.

The HTTP access engine 345 may further include a heartbeat manager 398;the proxy controller 365 may further include a data invalidator module368; the traffic shaping engine 375 may further include a controlprotocol 376 and a batching module 377. Additional or lesscomponents/modules/engines can be included in the proxy server 325 andeach illustrated component.

As used herein, a “module,” a “manager,” a “handler,” a “detector,” an“interface,” a “controller,” a “normalizer,” a “generator,” an“invalidator,” or an “engine” includes a general purpose, dedicated orshared processor and, typically, firmware or software modules that areexecuted by the processor. Depending upon implementation-specific orother considerations, the module, manager, handler, detector, interface,controller, normalizer, generator, invalidator, or engine can becentralized or its functionality distributed. The module, manager,handler, detector, interface, controller, normalizer, generator,invalidator, or engine can include general or special purpose hardware,firmware, or software embodied in a computer-readable (storage) mediumfor execution by the processor. As used herein, a computer-readablemedium or computer-readable storage medium is intended to include allmediums that are statutory (e.g., in the United States, under 35 U.S.C.101), and to specifically exclude all mediums that are non-statutory innature to the extent that the exclusion is necessary for a claim thatincludes the computer-readable (storage) medium to be valid. Knownstatutory computer-readable mediums include hardware (e.g., registers,random access memory (RAM), non-volatile (NV) storage, to name a few),but may or may not be limited to hardware.

In the example of a device (e.g., mobile device 350) making anapplication or content request to an application server or contentprovider 310, the request may be intercepted and routed to the proxyserver 325 which is coupled to the device 350 and the applicationserver/content provider 310. Specifically, the proxy server is able tocommunicate with the local proxy (e.g., proxy 175 and 275 of theexamples of FIGS. 1A and 1D-1E and FIG. 4A respectively) of the mobiledevice 350, the local proxy forwards the data request to the proxyserver 325 in some instances for further processing and, if needed, fortransmission to the application server/content server 310 for a responseto the data request.

In such a configuration, the host 300, or the proxy server 325 in thehost server 300 can utilize intelligent information provided by thelocal proxy in adjusting its communication with the device in such amanner that optimizes use of network and device resources. For example,the proxy server 325 can identify characteristics of user activity onthe device 350 to modify its communication frequency. Thecharacteristics of user activity can be determined by, for example, theactivity/behavior awareness module 366 in the proxy controller 365 viainformation collected by the local proxy on the device 350.

In one embodiment, communication frequency can be controlled by theconnection manager 395 of the proxy server 325, for example, to adjustpush frequency of content or updates to the device 350. For instance,push frequency can be decreased by the connection manager 395 whencharacteristics of the user activity indicate that the user is inactive.In one embodiment, when the characteristics of the user activityindicate that the user is subsequently active after a period ofinactivity, the connection manager 395 can adjust the communicationfrequency with the device 350 to send data that was buffered as a resultof decreased communication frequency to the device 350.

In addition, the proxy server 325 includes priority awareness of variousrequests, transactions, sessions, applications, and/or specific events.Such awareness can be determined by the local proxy on the device 350and provided to the proxy server 325. The priority awareness module 367of the proxy server 325 can generally assess the priority (e.g.,including time-criticality, time-sensitivity, etc.) of various events orapplications; additionally, the priority awareness module 367 can trackpriorities determined by local proxies of devices 350.

In one embodiment, through priority awareness, the connection manager395 can further modify communication frequency (e.g., use or radio ascontrolled by the radio controller 396) of the server 300 with thedevices 350. For example, the server 300 can notify the device 350, thusrequesting use of the radio if it is not already in use when data orupdates of an importance/priority level which meets a criteria becomesavailable to be sent.

In one embodiment, the proxy server 325 can detect multiple occurrencesof events (e.g., transactions, content, data received fromserver/provider 310) and allow the events to accumulate for batchtransfer to device 350. Batch transfer can be cumulated and transfer ofevents can be delayed based on priority awareness and/or useractivity/application behavior awareness as tracked by modules 367 and/or366. For example, batch transfer of multiple events (of a lowerpriority) to the device 350 can be initiated by the batching module 377when an event of a higher priority (meeting a threshold or criteria) isdetected at the server 300. In addition, batch transfer from the server300 can be triggered when the server receives data from the device 350,indicating that the device radio is already in use and is thus on. Inone embodiment, the proxy server 325 can order the each messages/packetsin a batch for transmission based on event/transaction priority suchthat higher priority content can be sent first in case connection islost or the battery dies, etc.

In one embodiment, the server 300 caches data (e.g., as managed by thecaching policy manager 355) such that communication frequency over anetwork (e.g., cellular network) with the device 350 can be modified(e.g., decreased). The data can be cached, for example, in the servercache 335 for subsequent retrieval or batch sending to the device 350 topotentially decrease the need to turn on the device 350 radio. Theserver cache 335 can be partially or wholly internal to the host server300, although in the example of FIG. 5A it is shown as being external tothe host 300. In some instances, the server cache 335 may be the same asand/or integrated in part or in whole with another cache managed byanother entity (e.g., the optional caching proxy server 199 shown in theexample of FIGS. 1D-1E), such as being managed by an applicationserver/content provider 310, a network service provider, or anotherthird party.

In one embodiment, content caching is performed locally on the device350 with the assistance of host server 300. For example, proxy server325 in the host server 300 can query the application server/provider 310with requests and monitor changes in responses. When changed or newresponses are detected (e.g., by the new data detector 347), the proxyserver 325 can notify the mobile device 350 such that the local proxy onthe device 350 can make the decision to invalidate (e.g., indicated asout-dated) the relevant cache entries stored as any responses in itslocal cache. Alternatively, the data invalidator module 368 canautomatically instruct the local proxy of the device 350 to invalidatecertain cached data, based on received responses from the applicationserver/provider 310. The cached data is marked as invalid, and can getreplaced or deleted when new content is received from the content server310.

Note that data change can be detected by the detector 347 in one or moreways. For example, the server/provider 310 can notify the host server300 upon a change. The change can also be detected at the host server300 in response to a direct poll of the source server/provider 310. Insome instances, the proxy server 325 can in addition, pre-load the localcache on the device 350 with the new/updated data. This can be performedwhen the host server 300 detects that the radio on the mobile device isalready in use, or when the server 300 has additional content/data to besent to the device 350.

One or more the above mechanisms can be implemented simultaneously oradjusted/configured based on application (e.g., different policies fordifferent servers/providers 310). In some instances, the sourceprovider/server 310 may notify the host 300 for certain types of events(e.g., events meeting a priority threshold level). In addition, theprovider/server 310 may be configured to notify the host 300 at specifictime intervals, regardless of event priority.

In one embodiment, the proxy server 325 of the host 300 canmonitor/track responses received for the data request from the contentsource for changed results prior to returning the result to the mobiledevice, such monitoring may be suitable when data request to the contentsource has yielded same results to be returned to the mobile device,thus preventing network/power consumption from being used when no newchanges are made to a particular requested. The local proxy of thedevice 350 can instruct the proxy server 325 to perform such monitoringor the proxy server 325 can automatically initiate such a process uponreceiving a certain number of the same responses (e.g., or a number ofthe same responses in a period of time) for a particular request.

In one embodiment, the server 300, through the activity/behaviorawareness module 366, is able to identify or detect user activity at adevice that is separate from the mobile device 350. For example, themodule 366 may detect that a user's message inbox (e.g., email or typesof inbox) is being accessed. This can indicate that the user isinteracting with his/her application using a device other than themobile device 350 and may not need frequent updates, if at all.

The server 300, in this instance, can thus decrease the frequency withwhich new or updated content is sent to the mobile device 350, oreliminate all communication for as long as the user is detected to beusing another device for access. Such frequency decrease may beapplication specific (e.g., for the application with which the user isinteracting with on another device), or it may be a general frequencydecrease (E.g., since the user is detected to be interacting with oneserver or one application via another device, he/she could also use itto access other services.) to the mobile device 350.

In one embodiment, the host server 300 is able to poll content sources310 on behalf of devices 350 to conserve power or battery consumption ondevices 350. For example, certain applications on the mobile device 350can poll its respective server 310 in a predictable recurring fashion.Such recurrence or other types of application behaviors can be trackedby the activity/behavior module 366 in the proxy controller 365. Thehost server 300 can thus poll content sources 310 for applications onthe mobile device 350 that would otherwise be performed by the device350 through a wireless (e.g., including cellular connectivity). The hostserver can poll the sources 310 for new or changed data by way of theHTTP access engine 345 to establish HTTP connection or by way of radiocontroller 396 to connect to the source 310 over the cellular network.When new or changed data is detected, the new data detector 347 cannotify the device 350 that such data is available and/or provide thenew/changed data to the device 350.

In one embodiment, the connection manager 395 determines that the mobiledevice 350 is unavailable (e.g., the radio is turned off) and utilizesSMS to transmit content to the device 350, for instance, via the SMSCshown in the example of FIG. 1D. SMS is used to transmit invalidationmessages, batches of invalidation messages, or even content in the casewhere the content is small enough to fit into just a few (usually one ortwo) SMS messages. This avoids the need to access the radio channel tosend overhead information. The host server 300 can use SMS for certaintransactions or responses having a priority level above a threshold orotherwise meeting a criteria. The server 300 can also utilize SMS as anout-of-band trigger to maintain or wake-up an IP connection as analternative to maintaining an always-on IP connection.

In one embodiment, the connection manager 395 in the proxy server 325(e.g., the heartbeat manager 398) can generate and/or transmit heartbeatmessages on behalf of connected devices 350 to maintain a backendconnection with a provider 310 for applications running on devices 350.

For example, in the distributed proxy system, local cache on the device350 can prevent any or all heartbeat messages needed to maintain TCP/IPconnections required for applications from being sent over the cellular,or other, network and instead rely on the proxy server 325 on the hostserver 300 to generate and/or send the heartbeat messages to maintain aconnection with the backend (e.g., application server/provider 110 inthe example of FIG. 1A). The proxy server can generate the keep-alive(heartbeat) messages independent of the operations of the local proxy onthe mobile device.

The repositories 312, 314, and/or 316 can additionally store software,descriptive data, images, system information, drivers, and/or any otherdata item utilized by other components of the host server 300 and/or anyother servers for operation. The repositories may be managed by adatabase management system (DBMS), for example, which may be but is notlimited to Oracle, DB2, Microsoft Access, Microsoft SQL Server,PostgreSQL, MySQL, FileMaker, etc.

The repositories can be implemented via object-oriented technologyand/or via text files and can be managed by a distributed databasemanagement system, an object-oriented database management system(OODBMS) (e.g., ConceptBase, FastDB Main Memory Database ManagementSystem, JDOInstruments, ObjectDB, etc.), an object-relational databasemanagement system (ORDBMS) (e.g., Informix, OpenLink Virtuoso, VMDS,etc.), a file system, and/or any other convenient or known databasemanagement package.

FIG. 5B depicts a block diagram illustrating a further example ofcomponents in the caching policy manager 355 in the cache system shownin the example of FIG. 5A which is capable of caching and adaptingcaching strategies for application (e.g., mobile application) behaviorand/or network conditions.

The caching policy manager 355, in one embodiment, can further include ametadata generator 303, a cache look-up engine 305, an applicationprotocol module 356, a content source monitoring engine 357 having apoll schedule manager 358, a response analyzer 361, and/or an updated ornew content detector 359. In one embodiment, the poll schedule manager358 further includes a host timing simulator 358 a, a long poll requestdetector/manager 358 b, a schedule update engine 358 c, and/or a timeadjustment engine 358 d. The metadata generator 303 and/or the cachelook-up engine 305 can be coupled to the cache 335 (or, server cache)for modification or addition to cache entries or querying thereof.

In one embodiment, the proxy server (e.g., the proxy server 125 or 325of the examples of FIGS. 1A-1E and FIG. 5A, respectively) can monitor acontent source for new or changed data via the monitoring engine 357.The proxy server, as shown, is an entity external to the mobile device250 of FIGS. 4A-B. The content source (e.g., application server/contentprovider 110 of FIG. 1A and FIG. 1D) can be one that has been identifiedto the proxy server (e.g., by the local proxy) as having content that isbeing locally cached on a mobile device (e.g., mobile device 150 or250). The content source can be monitored, for example, by themonitoring engine 357 at a frequency that is based on polling frequencyof the content source at the mobile device. The poll schedule can begenerated, for example, by the local proxy and sent to the proxy server.The poll frequency can be tracked and/or managed by the poll schedulemanager 358.

For example, the proxy server can poll the host (e.g., contentprovider/application server) on behalf of the mobile device and simulatethe polling behavior of the client to the host via the host timingsimulator 358 a. The polling behavior can be simulated to includecharacteristics of a long poll request-response sequences experienced ina persistent connection with the host (e.g., by the long poll requestdetector/manager 358 b). Note that once a polling interval/behavior isset, the local proxy 275 on the device-side and/or the proxy server 325on the server-side can verify whether application and applicationserver/content host behavior match or can be represented by thispredicted pattern. In general, the local proxy and/or the proxy servercan detect deviations and, when appropriate, re-evaluate and compute,determine, or estimate another polling interval.

In one embodiment, the caching policy manager 355 on the server-side ofthe distribute proxy can, in conjunction with or independent of theproxy server 275 on the mobile device, identify or detect long pollrequests. For example, the caching policy manager 355 can determine athreshold value to be used in comparison with a response delay intervaltime in a request-response sequence for an application request toidentify or detect long poll requests, possible long poll requests(e.g., requests for a persistent connection with a host with which theclient communicates including, but not limited to, a long-held HTTPrequest, a persistent connection enabling COMET style push, request forHTTP streaming, etc.), or other requests which can otherwise be treatedas a long poll request.

For example, the threshold value can be determined by the proxy 325using response delay interval times for requests generated byclients/applications across mobile devices which may be serviced bymultiple different cellular or wireless networks. Since the proxy 325resides on host 300 is able to communicate with multiple mobile devicesvia multiple networks, the caching policy manager 355 has access toapplication/client information at a global level which can be used insetting threshold values to categorize and detect long polls.

By tracking response delay interval times across applications acrossdevices over different or same networks, the caching policy manager 355can set one or more threshold values to be used in comparison withresponse delay interval times for long poll detection. Threshold valuesset by the proxy server 325 can be static or dynamic, and can beassociated with conditions and/or a time-to-live (an expirationtime/date in relative or absolute terms).

In addition, the caching policy manager 355 of the proxy 325 can furtherdetermine the threshold value, in whole or in part, based on networkdelays of a given wireless network, networks serviced by a given carrier(service provider), or multiple wireless networks. The proxy 325 canalso determine the threshold value for identification of long pollrequests based on delays of one or more application server/contentprovider (e.g., 110) to which application (e.g., mobile application) ormobile client requests are directed.

The proxy server can detect new or changed data at a monitored contentsource and transmits a message to the mobile device notifying it of sucha change such that the mobile device (or the local proxy on the mobiledevice) can take appropriate action (e.g., to invalidate the cacheelements in the local cache). In some instances, the proxy server (e.g.,the caching policy manager 355) upon detecting new or changed data canalso store the new or changed data in its cache (e.g., the server cache135 or 335 of the examples of FIG. 1A, FIG. 1D and FIG. 5A,respectively). The new/updated data stored in the server cache 335 canbe used in some instances to satisfy content requests at the mobiledevice; for example, it can be used after the proxy server has notifiedthe mobile device of the new/changed content and that the locally cachedcontent has been invalidated.

The metadata generator 303, similar to the metadata generator 203 shownin the example of FIG. 4B, can generate metadata for responses cachedfor requests at the mobile device 250. The metadata generator 303 cangenerate metadata for cache entries stored in the server cache 335.Similarly, the cache look-up engine 305 can include the same or similarfunctions are those described for the cache look-up engine 205 shown inthe example of FIG. 4B.

The response analyzer 361 can perform any or all of the functionalitiesrelated to analyzing responses received for requests generated at themobile device 250 in the same or similar fashion to the responseanalyzer 246 d of the local proxy shown in the example of FIG. 4B. Sincethe proxy server 325 is able to receive responses from the applicationserver/content source 310 directed to the mobile device 250, the proxyserver 325 (e.g., the response analyzer 361) can perform similarresponse analysis steps to determine cacheability, as described for theresponse analyzer of the local proxy. The responses can be analyzed inaddition to or in lieu of the analysis that can be performed at thelocal proxy 275 on the mobile device 250.

Furthermore, the schedule update engine 358 c can update the pollinginterval of a given application server/content host based on applicationrequest interval changes of the application at the mobile device 250 asdescribed for the schedule update engine in the local proxy 275. Thetime adjustment engine 358 d can set an initial time at which polls ofthe application server/content host is to begin to prevent the servingof out of date content once again before serving fresh content asdescribed for the schedule update engine in the local proxy 275. Boththe schedule updating and the time adjustment algorithms can beperformed in conjunction with or in lieu of the similar processesperformed at the local proxy 275 on the mobile device 250.

FIG. 5C depicts a block diagram illustrating examples of additionalcomponents in proxy server 325 shown in the example of FIG. 5A which isfurther capable of performing mobile traffic categorization and policyimplementation based on application behavior and/or traffic priority.

In one embodiment of the proxy server 325, the traffic shaping engine375 is further coupled to a traffic analyzer 336 for categorizing mobiletraffic for policy definition and implementation for mobile traffic andtransactions directed to one or more mobile devices (e.g., mobile device250 of FIGS. 4A-4D) or to an application server/content host (e.g., 110of FIGS. 1A and 1D). In general, the proxy server 325 is remote from themobile devices and remote from the host server, as shown in the examplesof FIGS. 1A-1F. The proxy server 325 or the host server 300 can monitorthe traffic for multiple mobile devices and is capable of categorizingtraffic and devising traffic policies for different mobile devices.

In addition, the proxy server 325 or host server 300 can operate withmultiple carriers or network operators and can implementcarrier-specific policies relating to categorization of traffic andimplementation of traffic policies for the various categories. Forexample, the traffic analyzer 336 of the proxy server 325 or host server300 can include one or more of, a prioritization engine 341 a, a timecriticality detection engine 341 b, an application state categorizer 341c, and/or an application traffic categorizer 341 d.

Each of these engines or modules can track different criterion for whatis considered priority, time critical, background/foreground, orinteractive/maintenance based on different wireless carriers. Differentcriterion may also exist for different mobile device types (e.g., devicemodel, manufacturer, operating system, etc.). In some instances, theuser of the mobile devices can adjust the settings or criterionregarding traffic category and the proxy server 325 is able to track andimplement these user adjusted/configured settings.

In one embodiment, the traffic analyzer 336 is able to detect,determined, identify, or infer, the activity state of an application onone or more mobile devices (e.g., mobile device 150 or 250) whichtraffic has originated from or is directed to, for example, via theapplication state categorizer 341 c and/or the traffic categorizer 341d. The activity state can be determined based on whether the applicationis in a foreground or background state on one or more of the mobiledevices (via the application state categorizer 341 c) since the trafficfor a foreground application vs. a background application may be handleddifferently to optimize network use.

In the alternate or in combination, the activity state of an applicationcan be determined by the wirelessly connected mobile devices (e.g., viathe application behavior detectors in the local proxies) andcommunicated to the proxy server 325. For example, the activity statecan be determined, detected, identified, or inferred with a level ofcertainty of heuristics, based on the backlight status at mobile devices(e.g., by a backlight detector) or other software agents or hardwaresensors on the mobile device, including but not limited to, resistivesensors, capacitive sensors, ambient light sensors, motion sensors,touch sensors, etc. In general, if the backlight is on, the traffic canbe treated as being or determined to be generated from an applicationthat is active or in the foreground, or the traffic is interactive. Inaddition, if the backlight is on, the traffic can be treated as being ordetermined to be traffic from user interaction or user activity, ortraffic containing data that the user is expecting within some timeframe.

The activity state can be determined from assessing, determining,evaluating, inferring, identifying user activity at the mobile device250 (e.g., via the user activity module 215) and communicated to theproxy server 325. In one embodiment, the activity state is determinedbased on whether the traffic is interactive traffic or maintenancetraffic. Interactive traffic can include transactions from responses andrequests generated directly from user activity/interaction with anapplication and can include content or data that a user is waiting orexpecting to receive. Maintenance traffic may be used to support thefunctionality of an application which is not directly detected by auser. Maintenance traffic can also include actions or transactions thatmay take place in response to a user action, but the user is notactively waiting for or expecting a response.

The time criticality detection engine 341 b can generally determine,identify, infer the time sensitivity of data contained in traffic sentfrom the mobile device 250 or to the mobile device from the host server300 or proxy server 325, or the application server (e.g., appserver/content source 110). For example, time sensitive data caninclude, status updates, stock information updates, IM presenceinformation, email messages or other messages, actions generated frommobile gaming applications, webpage requests, location updates, etc.

Data that is not time sensitive or time critical, by nature of thecontent or request, can include requests to delete messages,mark-as-read or edited actions, application-specific actions such as aadd-friend or delete-friend request, certain types of messages, or otherinformation which does not frequently changing by nature, etc. In someinstances when the data is not time critical, the timing with which toallow the traffic to be sent to a mobile device is based on when thereis additional data that needs to the sent to the same mobile device. Forexample, traffic shaping engine 375 can align the traffic with one ormore subsequent transactions to be sent together in a single power-onevent of the mobile device radio (e.g., using the alignment module 378and/or the batching module 377). The alignment module 378 can also alignpolling requests occurring close in time directed to the same hostserver, since these request are likely to be responded to with the samedata.

In general, whether new or changed data is sent from a host server to amobile device can be determined based on whether an application on themobile device to which the new or changed data is relevant, is runningin a foreground (e.g., by the application state categorizer 341 c), orthe priority or time criticality of the new or changed data. The proxyserver 325 can send the new or changed data to the mobile device if theapplication is in the foreground on the mobile device, or if theapplication is in the foreground and in an active state interacting witha user on the mobile device, and/or whether a user is waiting for aresponse that would be provided in the new or changed data. The proxyserver 325 (or traffic shaping engine 375) can send the new or changeddata that is of a high priority or is time critical.

Similarly, the proxy server 325 (or the traffic shaping engine 375) cansuppressing the sending of the new or changed data if the application isin the background on the mobile device. The proxy server 325 can alsosuppress the sending of the new or changed data if the user is notwaiting for the response provided in the new or changed data; whereinthe suppressing is performed by a proxy server coupled to the hostserver and able to wirelessly connect to the mobile device.

In general, if data, including new or change data is of a low priorityor is not time critical, the proxy server can waiting to transfer thedata until after a time period, or until there is additional data to besent (e.g. via the alignment module 378 and/or the batching module 377).

Example Selective Activation of Network Management Policy

FIG. 6A depicts a flow diagram illustrating an example process forreceiving and storing an inactive network management policy by a mobiledevice. The operations or steps illustrated with respect to FIG. 6A maybe performed in various embodiments by a mobile device (e.g., mobiledevice 250 of FIG. 2A), one or more processors, and/or other components,modules, engines, or tools discussed herein with respect to a mobiledevice. Additional or fewer data flow operations are possible.

To begin, at step 610, the mobile device receives an inactive networkmanagement policy. As discussed herein, the inactive network managementpolicy can be generated by network operators (e.g., cellular providers)to address congestion. The polices can be distributed to clients in themobile network and selectively activated in congested cell locations (orareas) by the mobile clients. The polices can be delivered infrequently(e.g., only when they change) to avoid network congestion. The policiescan be global congestion policies delivered to all or most mobiledevices regardless of their region. Conversely, policies can beregion-specific congestion policies and thus only apply to the mobiledevices registered to a particular region. In some embodiments, themobile devices can initiate a download of the entire polices or partialpolicies (updates) to reduce congestion. Lastly, at step 612, the mobiledevice persists (i.e., stores) the inactive network management policy

FIG. 6B depicts a flow diagram illustrating an example process foractivating (or locally triggering) an inactive network management policyby a mobile client in a congested network to, for example, preventfurther aggravation of network congestion. The operations or stepsillustrated with respect to FIG. 6B may be performed in variousembodiments by a mobile device (e.g., mobile device 250 of FIG. 2A), oneor more processors, and/or other components, modules, engines, or toolsdiscussed herein with respect to a mobile device. Additional or fewerdata flow operations are possible.

To begin, at step 620, the mobile device monitors a cell location of themobile device. Monitoring can, for example, include identifying the cellidentifier (CI) the mobile device is camping (i.e., located in). Atdecision step 622, the mobile device checks and/or otherwise determineswhether a change in the cell location of the mobile device has occurredfor example, due to handover of the mobile device from one transceiveror tower to another transceiver or tower. In some instances, a handovercan occur between transceivers on the same tower. The determination canbe made continuously, periodically, based on one or more triggers, etc.If a change in the cell location of the mobile device does not occurred,then the process continues at step 620.

Otherwise, if a change in the cell location of the mobile device hasoccurred (e.g., handover), at step 623, the mobile device determines ifit has crossed (or will likely cross) a location area boundary. If not,the process continues at step 630, but if the mobile device has crossed(or will likely shortly cross) a location area boundary then, at step624, the mobile device reports the cell location (e.g., new locationarea) to a proxy server. In one embodiment, the cell location can bereported to the proxy server responsive to the change in the celllocation of the mobile device in the mobile network. At a decision step626, the mobile device determines whether or not it has received a newlocation area congested cell list. As discussed herein, if the mobiledevice crosses a location area boundary then the mobile device notifiesthe proxy server that responsively provides and or otherwise sends themobile device a new location area congested cell list having thecongested cells associated with the new location area and not theprevious location area, future location areas or predicted locationareas.

If the mobile device receives a new location area congested cell listthen, at step 628, the mobile device saves the new congested cell listand proceeds to decision step 630. At decision step 630, the mobiledevice determines if the new cell (the cell in which the mobile deviceis currently located) is indicated on the current location areacongested cell list (which may or may not have just been updated). Ifthe new cell is not on the current location area congested cell listthen the process continues at step 620. Otherwise, the process continuesto decision step 632. At decision step 632, the mobile device determinesif one or more network management polices associated with the mobiledevice, e.g., previously received, see FIG. 6A, have triggers (e.g.,congestion triggers).

If none of the polices associated with the mobile device have congestiontriggers then the process continues at step 620. Otherwise, at step 634,the mobile device activates the network management policy. As discussedherein, activation of an inactive network management policy can includemodifying communications of the mobile device to reduce congestion inthe new cell location. After activation, the process can continue atstep 620. An end to the process can be reached at any time when theserver instructs the device to stop monitoring location.

FIG. 7A depicts a flow diagram illustrating an example process forreceiving and storing a historical listing of past congested cells fromvarious location areas by a proxy server to facilitate activation of aninactive network management policy by a mobile client in a congestednetwork to, for example, prevent further aggravation of networkcongestion. The operations or steps illustrated with respect to FIG. 7Amay be performed in various embodiments by a host server or proxy server(e.g., host server 300 or proxy server 325 of FIG. 3A), one or moreprocessors, and/or other components, modules, engines, or toolsdiscussed herein with respect to a mobile device. Additional or fewerdata flow operations are possible.

To begin, at step 710, the proxy server receives a historical listing ofpast congested cells from a network service provider. In one embodiment,network operators (or providers) can track historical cell congestionsuch as, for example, when a particular cell is congested and thekind(s) of traffic that the cause the congestion, and can create a listof the congested cells. The network operators can provide the list ofcongested cells to a proxy server periodically, when the list isupdated, or in any other similar and/or reasonable manner.

In one embodiment, to identify unique cells in the hierarchical mobilenetwork, the historical listing of past congested cells identifies thecells using both a cell identifier (CI) and a location area code (LAC).For example, as discussed herein, multiple cells can be combined into aRouting Area (RA) and multiple RAs can be combined into a Location Area(LA). Each location area is represented by a LAC. A cell (represented bya given CI) is guaranteed to be unique only within a particular locationarea (represented by a LAC). Accordingly, the congested cell in thehistorical listing of past congested cells is identified by both a cellidentifier (CI) and a location area code (LAC).

In one embodiment, service provider tracks the historical listing ofpast congested cells which is sent in whole or in part (update) to theproxy server at step 710. For example, the service provider can trackhistorical values or metrics and use this information to determine whichcells are historically congested. Alternatively or additionally, themetrics may be sent to a proxy server and the historical congestiondetermination made at the proxy server.

Because the historic listing can include congested cells from many orall location areas, the entire listing can be very long. Thus, asdiscussed above, it would be extremely burdensome for the serviceprovider to provide the entire listing to mobile devices. Accordingly,the historic listing (and/or updates to the historic listing) areprovided to the proxy server. The proxy server can divide the listing upby location area (or provisions the listing) and provide only therelevant congested cells to the mobile devices (e.g., the location arealists or location area cell lists). In this manner, the proxy serverensures that it is not necessary to provision and update a full list ofcongested cells in server provider (or operator's) network to everymobile device (or client).

Additionally, the techniques described herein also do not requiretracking mobile device location history (cell location history) topredict where the mobile device might go and thus predict the congestedcell information that might be relevant to the mobile device. Rather,the location of the device is tracked per location areas and therelevant location area lists are provisioned and sent to the mobiledevice. This process is shown and discussed in greater detail withreference to FIG. 7B.

Lastly, at step 712, the proxy server stores the historical listing ofpast congested cells in a persistent memory on the server.

FIG. 7B depicts a flow diagram illustrating an example process forprovisioning and distributing location area cell lists to a mobiledevice to facilitate activation of an inactive network management policyby a mobile client in a congested network to, for example, preventfurther aggravation of network congestion. The operations or stepsillustrated with respect to FIG. 7B may be performed in variousembodiments by a host server or proxy server (e.g., host server 300 orproxy server 325 of FIG. 3A), one or more processors, and/or othercomponents, modules, engines, or tools discussed herein with respect toa mobile device. Additional or fewer data flow operations are possible.

To begin, at step 720, the proxy server receives an indication of acurrent cell location from a mobile device. For example, as discussedherein, the mobile device can report its current cell location (e.g., orCI) to a proxy server. At step 722, the proxy server processes thecurrent cell location to determine a current location area. As discussedherein, multiple cells can be combined into a Routing Area (RA) andmultiple RAs can be combined into a Location Area (LA). Each locationarea is represented by a LAC. Alternatively or additionally, the proxyserver can monitor the current cell location of the mobile device in themobile network. Location can monitoring can include monitoring currentcells, monitoring geographic coordinates, etc.

At step 726, the proxy server accesses the stored historical listing ofpast congested cells. The congested cells in the historical listing ofpast congested cells can be identified by a cell identifiers (CI) andlocation area codes (LAC). At step 728, the proxy server provisions (orgenerates) a congested cell list for the current location area of themobile device using the historical listing of past congested cells. Forexample, the proxy server can identify the congested cells from thehistorical listing of past congested cells that are in the same locationarea as the mobile device based on the location area codes.

Lastly, at step 730, the proxy server sends the location area congestedcell list including the congested cells for the current location area ofthe mobile device to the mobile device.

FIG. 8A depicts a sequence diagram illustrating example signalingbetween a distributed proxy system and a network service provider forgenerating and distributing an inactive network management policy.

At stage 810, a network service provider (e.g., an operator oradministrator) can access a policy generation interface provided by aproxy server. An example policy generation interface is shown anddiscussed in greater detail with respect to FIG. 9.

In one embodiment, the proxy generation interface can indicate variousparameters that are selectable and/or enterable by the network serviceprovider (e.g., operator or administrator). The parameters can, forexample, cause the network management policy to be remotely triggered(e.g., activated by a mobile device). The parameters can include aparameter for adding (or binding) a congestion status to the networkmanagement policy. The congestion status can indicate that a congestionstatus of a cell location needs to be taken into account when decidingwhether and/or when to apply the policy in that cell.

Although not shown for simplicity, the policy generation interface canbe accessible from any network connected computer. Alternatively oradditionally, the network service provider can configure its ownmachines for providing the policy generation interface. At stages 812and 814, the generated network management policy is communicated and/orotherwise distributed from the network service provider core node and/orthe server proxy to one or more mobile clients.

FIG. 8B depicts a sequence diagram illustrating example signalingbetween a distributed proxy system and a network service provider forgenerating and distributing a historic list of congested cells.

At stage 824 communications occur within the current cell. At stage 826,the network service provider tracks the communication statistics formobile devices operating in the mobile network and, at stage 828generates and/or updates a historic listing of congested cells. Eachcongested cell in the historical listing can be identified by anassociated cell identifier (CI) and location area code (LAC). At stage830, the historic listing is provided to a proxy server.

FIG. 8C depicts a sequence diagram illustrating example signalingbetween a distributed proxy system and a network service provider foractivating an inactive network management policy by a mobile client in acongested network to, for example, prevent further aggravation ofnetwork congestion.

In one embodiment, the network management policies can be preloaded andthat the congested cell identity list (location area list) can also bepreloaded (sent by proxy server only on location area handovers). Thatis, the congested cell list can be sent by the proxy server whenever theproxy server determines that the mobile device has crossed into a newlocation area and thus, the congested cell list is likely preloadedbefore the mobile device enters a new cell. However, in the case wherethe mobile device crosses a location area boundary, a new location arealist must be provisioned and sent by the proxy server. The example ofFIG. 8C illustrates a case in which the mobile device does not yet havethe new location area list before entering the congested cell, butchecks the new location area list to determine if the current location(cell) is congested upon reception of the new location area list.

At stage 840, the local proxy monitors its current cell location and, atstage 841, determines that the mobile device has moved to a new locationarea. At stage 842, the local proxy reports the new location area. Atstage 846, the proxy server generates and/or updates a location arealist of congested cells for the new location area. The location arealist includes only congested cells within a current location area andthus is much smaller than a historic list of congested cells provided bya network service provider that can include congested cells for all ofthe location areas in the mobile network.

At stage 848, the proxy server sends and/or updates the list ofcongested cells for the new location area to the mobile device. Themobile device and/or local proxy, at stage 852, determines whether thenew cell (CI sent in stage 842) is on the location area congested celllist and, if so, at stage 854, activates an inactive network managementpolicy that includes a congested cell status parameter (i.e., triggersthe congested cell status parameter).

FIG. 9 depicts an example interface for generating a network managementpolicy. As illustrated in the example of FIG. 9, the proxy generationinterface includes various parameters that are selectable and/orenterable by the network service provider (e.g., operator oradministrator). These parameters include a cell status parameter (3.4)that is checkable via the network management policy via a checkbox.Additionally, a time parameter (3) can be used to indicate when thepolicy applies and a device status parameter (3.3) indicate other deviceparameters that can be taken into account when determining whether ornot to activate a network management policy.

FIG. 10 shows a diagrammatic representation of a machine in the exampleform of a computer system within which a set of instructions, forcausing the machine to perform any one or more of the methodologiesdiscussed herein, may be executed.

In alternative embodiments, the machine operates as a standalone deviceor may be connected (e.g., networked) to other machines. In a networkeddeployment, the machine may operate in the capacity of a server or aclient machine in a client-server network environment, or as a peermachine in a peer-to-peer (or distributed) network environment.

The machine may be a server computer, a client computer, a personalcomputer (PC), a user device, a tablet PC, a laptop computer, a set-topbox (STB), a personal digital assistant (PDA), a cellular telephone, aniPhone, an iPad, a Blackberry, a processor, a telephone, a webappliance, a network router, switch or bridge, a console, a hand-heldconsole, a (hand-held) gaming device, a music player, any portable,mobile, hand-held device, or any machine capable of executing a set ofinstructions (sequential or otherwise) that specify actions to be takenby that machine.

While the machine-readable medium or machine-readable storage medium isshown in an exemplary embodiment to be a single medium, the term“machine-readable medium” and “machine-readable storage medium” shouldbe taken to include a single medium or multiple media (e.g., acentralized or distributed database and/or associated caches andservers) that store the one or more sets of instructions. The term“machine-readable medium” and “machine-readable storage medium” shallalso be taken to include any medium that is capable of storing, encodingor carrying a set of instructions for execution by the machine and thatcause the machine to perform any one or more of the methodologies of thepresently disclosed technique and innovation.

In general, the routines executed to implement the embodiments of thedisclosure may be implemented as part of an operating system or aspecific application, component, program, object, module or sequence ofinstructions referred to as “computer programs.” The computer programstypically comprise one or more instructions set at various times invarious memory and storage devices in a computer that, when read andexecuted by one or more processing units or processors in a computer,cause the computer to perform operations to execute elements involvingthe various aspects of the disclosure.

Moreover, while embodiments have been described in the context of fullyfunctioning computers and computer systems, those skilled in the artwill appreciate that the various embodiments are capable of beingdistributed as a program product in a variety of forms, and that thedisclosure applies equally regardless of the particular type of machineor computer-readable media used to actually effect the distribution.

Further examples of machine-readable storage media, machine-readablemedia, or computer-readable (storage) media include but are not limitedto recordable type media such as volatile and non-volatile memorydevices, floppy and other removable disks, hard disk drives, opticaldisks (e.g., Compact Disk Read-Only Memory (CD ROMS), Digital VersatileDisks, (DVDs), etc.), among others, and transmission type media such asdigital and analog communication links.

Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, throughout thedescription and the claims, the words “comprise,” “comprising,” and thelike are to be construed in an inclusive sense, as opposed to anexclusive or exhaustive sense; that is to say, in the sense of“including, but not limited to.” As used herein, the terms “connected,”“coupled,” or any variant thereof, means any connection or coupling,either direct or indirect, between two or more elements; the coupling ofconnection between the elements can be physical, logical, or acombination thereof. Additionally, the words “herein,” “above,” “below,”and words of similar import, when used in this application, shall referto this application as a whole and not to any particular portions ofthis application. Where the context permits, words in the above DetailedDescription using the singular or plural number may also include theplural or singular number respectively. The word “or,” in reference to alist of two or more items, covers all of the following interpretationsof the word: any of the items in the list, all of the items in the list,and any combination of the items in the list.

As used herein, a “module,” “a manager,” a “handler,” a “detector,” an“interface,” a “controller,” a “normalizer,” a “generator,” an“invalidator,” or an “engine” includes a general purpose, dedicated orshared processor and, typically, firmware or software modules that areexecuted by the processor. Depending upon implementation-specific orother considerations, the module, manager, handler, detector, interface,controller, normalizer, generator, invalidator, or engine can becentralized or its functionality distributed. The module, manager,handler, detector, interface, controller, normalizer, generator,invalidator, or engine can include general or special purpose hardware,firmware, or software embodied in a computer-readable (storage) mediumfor execution by the processor.

As used herein, a computer-readable medium or computer-readable storagemedium is intended to include all mediums that are statutory (e.g., inthe United States, under 35 U.S.C. §101), and to specifically excludeall mediums that are non-statutory in nature to the extent that theexclusion is necessary for a claim that includes the computer-readable(storage) medium to be valid. Known statutory computer-readable mediumsinclude hardware (e.g., registers, random access memory (RAM),non-volatile (NV) storage, to name a few), but may or may not be limitedto hardware.

The above detailed description of embodiments of the disclosure is notintended to be exhaustive or to limit the teachings to the precise formdisclosed above. While specific embodiments of, and examples for, thedisclosure are described above for illustrative purposes, variousequivalent modifications are possible within the scope of thedisclosure, as those skilled in the relevant art will recognize. Forexample, while processes or blocks are presented in a given order,alternative embodiments may perform routines having steps, or employsystems having blocks, in a different order, and some processes orblocks may be deleted, moved, added, subdivided, combined, and/ormodified to provide alternative or sub-combinations. Each of theseprocesses or blocks may be implemented in a variety of different ways.Also, while processes or blocks are at times shown as being performed inseries, these processes or blocks may instead be performed in parallel,or may be performed at different times. Further any specific numbersnoted herein are only examples: alternative implementations may employdiffering values or ranges.

The teachings of the disclosure provided herein can be applied to othersystems, not necessarily the system described above. The elements andacts of the various embodiments described above can be combined toprovide further embodiments.

Any patents and applications and other references noted above, includingany that may be listed in accompanying filing papers, are incorporatedherein by reference. Aspects of the disclosure can be modified, ifnecessary, to employ the systems, functions, and concepts of the variousreferences described above to provide yet further embodiments of thedisclosure.

These and other changes can be made to the disclosure in light of theabove Detailed Description. While the above description describescertain embodiments of the disclosure, and describes the best modecontemplated, no matter how detailed the above appears in text, theteachings can be practiced in many ways. Details of the system may varyconsiderably in its implementation details, while still beingencompassed by the subject matter disclosed herein. As noted above,particular terminology used when describing certain features or aspectsof the disclosure should not be taken to imply that the terminology isbeing redefined herein to be restricted to any specific characteristics,features, or aspects of the disclosure with which that terminology isassociated. In general, the terms used in the following claims shouldnot be construed to limit the disclosure to the specific embodimentsdisclosed in the specification, unless the above Detailed Descriptionsection explicitly defines such terms. Accordingly, the actual scope ofthe disclosure encompasses not only the disclosed embodiments, but alsoall equivalent ways of practicing or implementing the disclosure underthe claims.

While certain aspects of the disclosure are presented below in certainclaim forms, the inventors contemplate the various aspects of thedisclosure in any number of claim forms. For example, while only oneaspect of the disclosure is recited as a means-plus-function claim under35 U.S.C. §112, ¶6, other aspects may likewise be embodied as ameans-plus-function claim, or in other forms, such as being embodied ina computer-readable medium. (Any claims intended to be treated under 35U.S.C. §112, ¶6 will begin with the words “means for.”) Accordingly, theapplicant reserves the right to add additional claims after filing theapplication to pursue such additional claim forms for other aspects ofthe disclosure.

1. A method of managing activation of network management policies in amobile network, the method comprising: responsive to a change in alocation of a mobile device in the mobile network, determining if a newlocation is on a location area list distributed by a proxy server; andactivating, by the mobile device, a network management policy associatedwith the mobile device when the new location is on the location arealist, wherein the network management policy does not have specificbinding to a particular location in the mobile network.
 2. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: prior to the change in the location of themobile device in the mobile network, receiving, by the mobile device,the network management policy including a congested location statustrigger; and preloading the network management policy on the mobiledevice, wherein the congested location status trigger triggersactivation of the network management policy when the new location is onthe location area list.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the locationarea list includes congested cell identifiers indicating congested cellsin a location area of multiple location areas of the mobile network. 4.The method of claim 3, wherein the multiple location areas each indicatea different set of cell locations in the mobile network; and wherein thecell identifiers are guaranteed unique within the location area.
 5. Themethod of claim 3, further comprising: responsive to the change in thelocation of the mobile device in the mobile network, determining, by themobile device, if a new location is in a new location area; and if thenew location is in the new location area, reporting the new locationarea to the proxy server.
 6. The method of claim 3, further comprising:receiving, by the mobile device, network topology informationidentifying one or more of the multiple location areas of the mobilenetwork.
 7. The method of claim 3, wherein the congested cells in thecurrent location area are further determined to be congested based onhistorical metrics associated with the cells.
 8. The method of claim 5wherein, the historical metrics are specific and relevant to the mobiledevice.
 9. The method of claim 5 wherein, the mobile device isprovisioned with the historical metrics that are specific and relevantto the mobile device.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein the activatingthe network management policy associated with the mobile device furthercomprises: modifying communications of the mobile device to reducecongestion in the new location.
 11. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: monitoring, by the mobile device, the location of the mobiledevice in the mobile network.
 12. The method of claim 9, wherein thelocation is reported to the proxy server responsive to the change in thelocation of the mobile device in the mobile network.
 13. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: receiving, by the mobile device, thelocation area cell list from a proxy server responsive to a change in acurrent location area of multiple location areas of the mobile network.14. The method of claim 1, further comprising: identifying, by themobile device, the network management policy associated with the mobiledevice based on the network management policy including a congested celltrigger.
 15. The method of claim 1, wherein the network managementpolicy comprises a modification to another network management policy.16. The method of claim 1, further comprising: responsive to anotherchange in the location of the mobile device in the mobile network,determining if another new location is on the location area listdistributed by the proxy server; and deactivating, by the mobile device,the active network management policy associated with the mobile devicewhen the another new location is not on the location area list.
 17. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: storing, by the mobile device,one or more previous location area lists in on the mobile device.
 18. Amobile device comprising: a radio; a processor; memory storinginstructions, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor,causes the mobile device to: locally trigger an network managementpolicy when a current cell location is on a location area cell list,wherein the network management policy does not have specific binding toa particular cell in the mobile network.
 19. The mobile device of claim18, wherein the location area cell list includes congested cellidentifiers indicating congested cells in a location area of multiplelocation areas of the mobile network.
 20. The mobile device of claim 19,wherein the multiple location areas each indicate a different set ofcell locations in the mobile network.
 21. The mobile device of claim 19,wherein the congested cell identifiers are guaranteed unique within thelocation area.
 22. The mobile device of claim 18, wherein to trigger thenetwork management policy, the instructions, when executed by theprocessor, causes further the mobile device to modify communications ofthe mobile device to reduce congestion in the new cell location.
 23. Themobile device of claim 18, wherein the instructions, when executed bythe processor, further causes the mobile device to: monitor the celllocation of the mobile device in the mobile network; responsive to achange in the cell location of the mobile device in the mobile network,determine if a new cell location is in a new location area; and reportthe new cell location area to a proxy server if the new location is inthe new location area.
 24. The mobile device of claim 18, furthercomprising: an interface in communication with the processor and theradio, wherein the interface: receives the location area cell list froma proxy server responsive to a change in a current location area ofmultiple location areas of the mobile network; and wherein the locationarea cell list is stored in the memory on the mobile device.
 25. Themobile device of claim 18, further comprising: an interface incommunication with the processor and the radio, wherein the interface:receives the network management policy including a congested celltrigger; and wherein the network management policy is stored in memoryon the mobile device.
 26. A computer-readable non-transitory storagemedium storing instructions to be implemented by a mobile device havinga processor, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor,causes the mobile device to: responsive to a change in a location of amobile device in the mobile network, determine if a new location is on alocation area list distributed by a proxy server; and trigger a networkmanagement policy associated with the mobile device locally when the newlocation is on the location area list, wherein the network managementpolicy does not have specific binding to a particular location in themobile network.
 27. The computer-readable non-transitory storage mediumof claim 26, wherein, when the network management policy is triggered,the mobile device modifies communications to reduce congestion in thenew location.
 28. The computer-readable non-transitory storage medium ofclaim 26, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processorfurther cause the processor to: preload the network management policyincluding a congested location status trigger on the mobile device,wherein the network management policy is received prior to the change inthe location of the mobile device in the mobile network, and wherein thecongested location status trigger causes the triggering of the networkmanagement policy when the new location is on the location area list.29. The computer-readable non-transitory storage medium of claim 28,wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor further causethe processor to: monitor the location of the mobile device in themobile network; responsive to a change in the location of the mobiledevice in the mobile network, determine if a new location is in a newlocation area; and if the new location is in the new location area,report the new location area to the proxy server.
 30. Thecomputer-readable non-transitory storage medium of claim 26, wherein thelocation area list includes congested cell identifiers indicatingcongested cells in a current location area of multiple location areas ofthe mobile network, wherein the multiple location areas each indicate adifferent set of cell locations in the mobile network; and wherein thecell identifiers are guaranteed unique within the current location areaof the mobile network.
 31. The method of claim 1, wherein activating anetwork management policy associated with the mobile device when the newlocation is on the location area list comprises determining whether acell associated with the new location is congested based only on thelocation area list.